When you’re a charity that covers a lot of areas, it can be difficult to know where to start with your marketing. Do you focus on events, recent news stories or just explain what your organisation’s purpose is? Matthew Belfield from the LGBT Foundation understands how to narrow the focus of a campaign for maximum impact. He also explains how passion for the cause is integral to generating new ideas and finding new ways to resonate with your target audience.

Astra
Hello and welcome to the same landing page. As always, I am joined by my co-host, Jason. And this week we have got Matthew from the LGBT Foundation, who’s very kindly taking some time out of his schedule because with seven days until Manchester Pride.

Matthew
Just seven days.

Astra
Yeah, I imagine that you are very busy at the moment. So thank you so much for taking some time out of your day to speak to us today.

Matthew
Yeah, no worries at all. And thank you very much for having me. And yeah, I really looking forward to kind of sharing the knowledge that I’ve got and hopefully, kind of shining a spotlight, I guess on the work that we do LGBT Foundation and Pride as a whole.

Astra
Amazing. Well, yeah, it would be remiss not to talk about pride in this podcast of all three of us are from Manchester. And I say it’s seven days away, but before we do and you guys do so much more than pride. So in your own words, can you just touch on a little bit for the listeners, what is the mission of the LGBT Foundation?

Matthew
Of course. So yeah, LGBT Foundation is a health and well-being charity based here in Manchester but works in all over England. We provide a vast array of health and wellbeing services that are all about helping LGBTQ people to flourish and live the life that’s right for them. So we offer a range of services from support with recovery, support around domestic abuse and sexual violence, and also holding more community-based events as while where queer people, LGBTQ plus people, and people questioning their sexual and gender identity can come together and meet like-minded people and just realise that they’re not alone in this place that we call the world.

Astra
Yeah, it’s going to say your website is absolutely enormous. There’s so much you guys do. You’ve condensed it really nicely there. But with everything from sort of like, as you say, addiction help, sexual violence help, obviously the pride side of stuff which most people will recognise you for, but obviously as a marketing communications manager, your day must look really varied.
What is a day in the life of Matthew Belfield like?

Matthew
Yeah, taking the life of Matthew Belfield. That is a question. Every job I’ve ever worked in marketing communications for the last ten years has always had some level of unpredictability in it. But this one kind of takes it to the next level. And generally, my day starts out with the usual going through emails, checking if you had any media and press inquiries over the web over there overnight, checking with my team, and then really getting into some strategic campaign planning meetings with the team, looking at ways that we can co-produce more broadly across the LGBT Foundation, doing a lot of kind of diary management and looking forward and seeing what’s coming

up, planning for that and really kind of honing in the messages and the work that we do to make it right for our community. However, a lot of my work at the moment is reactive as well, So there’s a lot of kind of policy change going on at the moment across the UK, particularly when it comes to trans non-binary healthcare, LGBTQ plus the kind of not say LGBTQ policies, but a lot of policies that impact LGBTQ people more broadly.

So I do a lot of work with our senior team here at LGBT Foundation on how we respond to that in a meaningful way within our remit of a health and wellbeing charity. But there’s also a lot of fun in the work that we do. I’ve got a really great team and we spend a lot of time kind of creatively coming up with ideas about how we can really help LGBTQ plus people live the life that they deserve.

And that’s the kind of bit for me that really gets me up in the morning. It’s just having that creativity, looking at ways of talking, demystifying what it is to be LGBTQ plus and just carving out the time in my day to try and do that, which that magic 20% buffer time really comes in useful there of kind of having that time to do the creative work that we do.

It’s it’s one of those things where it’s everybody says that no two days are the same. But I think LGBT Foundation, it’s really true. We just never know what’s going to come up, what’s going to happen in the morning, what’s going to happen to our day. But that’s what keeps it fresh and that’s what really keeps exciting and I really wouldn’t change that

Jason
Is there anything that surprised you about coming into the role and that you didn’t think would be the case on a day-to-day basis?

Matthew
So when I started two years ago, almost two years to the day actually, there wasn’t a communications team. There had been a big shift within the LGBT Foundation, which meant a lot of staff changeover. It was just coming out of COVID. And I think it’s of that kind of great resignation. So when I came in, just the sheer amount of work that that as an organisation, a relatively small organisation, I guess does just really took my breath away.

I really thought coming into this role there was a very specific remit with LGBT Foundation, but that’s not the case. We are a health and wellbeing charity, but just health and wellbeing is so broad and we really kind of dip our toe into anything and just looking for those ways to really energise our communities. I guess the one thing that did strike me was a lot of the kind of campaigning work and the work that goes on behind the scenes that aren’t particularly public-facing, so a lot of the work that we do around kind of political engagement and responding to like the kind of political and social environment out there for a lot

of LGBTQ plus people, which isn’t kind of on the forefront of everything we do, but it’s so important that we do that and that we have our voices heard to make make the world and this country better for LGBTQ plus people. And that’s kind of the bit for me that I really relish in, is the day-to-day stuff is absolutely fantastic.

But when you kind of really see that you are making a change for LGBTQ people on a national level, it just really does take my breath away sometimes that it’s kind of me leading the charge on a lot of that work.

Astra
Yeah, needless to say, as you say, it’s really important work. There’s a big need for it and it must be super rewarding, if not very stressful.

Matthew
Super rewarding and super stressful as well. Yeah, but it’s part of the work we do and it’s part of doing good work is stressful in itself.

Astra
Yeah, you kind of touched on it there a little bit by saying that a lot of the stuff that you do is reactive, especially at the moment, but like how do you prioritize in terms of putting your marketing head on? How would you prioritise what to market? Is it that demand? Is it when there is a certain problem and if you’re talking un-reactively, you know, how do you plan your day?

Is it mostly around events? Is it around needs within the healthcare sector? How would you kind of bring that to the forefront if you like?

Matthew
It’s it’s a mixed bag. It’s kind of everything that you’ve said for, all the will in the world that we do try and plan everything. And 70% of our work is planning before we do a lot of work responding to calendar dates and linking in the work we do to why celebrations that happen across the UK and in some cases internationally as well, and really kind of positioning LGBTQ plus kind of health and wellbeing within the broader context of the work that’s going on and commemorative dates that are going on across the country.

So we look at what’s coming up and what we can shine an LGBTQ plus kind of light on in terms of the prioritization itself, it is incredibly difficult. We’ve got a really actually as you were king of saying Astra, we’ve got a massive amount of work that we’re doing and everybody’s priority quickly becomes, in a comms role, your priority doesn’t it?

Astra
Yeah, so.

Matthew
We do have to really kind of hone in on what our kind of role is within this kind of space because everybody wants us to respond to everything that’s going on with LGBTQ plus issues across the country. But there’s just so much going on at the moment that we just can’t respond to everything or at least give it all the TLC it deserves.

So we really think where is the best place to place our resources? Why is it that we can make the biggest impact as a charity? And what is it that people come to us for? So we’ve done quite a lot of work recently on really looking at the overall amount of campaigns that we do across a calendar year.

I think last year we did about 80 awareness campaigns, which is massive. Yeah, and looking at actually what is the return on investment in that from a comms perspective, Is that really where we need to be putting in a lot of our kind of energies? Because for every Domestic Abuse Awareness Week, which of course we have a domestic abuse service, there is something slightly more playful, I guess, that we can talk about in terms of random acts of kindness day and things like that.

And just looking at where we can channel our energies into to make the biggest impact and really, I guess having to make some tough calls sometimes that we can’t respond to everything in a meaningful way. And that’s been the real key thing for me is anything that we do from a comms perspective, we have to be able to wear that heart on a sleeve and say, Actually, you know what, We’re not paying lip service to this.

If we’re going to do something that we are going to, there is something really special that we can do with this kind of campaign, calendar date, or event that’s going on more broadly across the country. Political campaigning, you kind of name it is just thinking about where is the bit, where is the kind of area that we can, I guess, enhance what’s going on more broadly.

But again, of course, everybody’s priorities, their priorities. So sometimes we have to make some really tough calls and we’re not able to address everything from a comms perspective that we want to. And but I think so long as for me, we’re really confident that, you know what, we can kind of let something go or that this is the okay level of kind of communications or promotion or marketing that we can give something and I can kind of get on board with that.

And but we are doing a bit more of a piece of work more broadly about how we can kind of respond to everything in some kind of way, bringing in additional resources, bringing in partnerships to help us do that. But it’s very early stages at the moment, very early.

Jason
Do you find that with something like this that when you’re off the clock and not working, everyone’s got an opinion and an idea that they’d love to share with you about what you could do? Does that kind of thing happen a lot?

Matthew
That kind of thing happens, but I think that’s marketing 101, isn’t it? And comms 101. I think that everybody wants to be everybody has, I guess, that responsibility, regardless of what organisation you are in, to communicate, promote and advocate for the work that you do. And I think that’s a really good mindset to have.

I think it’s just knowing how to manage that and really kind of honing in the best intentions and channelling it in the right way. So there’s projects that I’ve worked on where everybody’s throwing 110% at this thing and they want it to be all bells and whistles and everything to everyone. But actually, not everything can be everything to everyone.

And that’s not how good marketing and good communication works is really drilling into what works. And I think as you can kind of imagine, an organisation full of creative and passionate queer people and an organisation that is really based on your identity. Everybody wants to be involved, everybody wants to have a say, and everyone wants to feel like they’ve been heard.

And I think being heard is really important. I think we pride ourselves as a communications team on really basing a lot of the campaign work that we do on lived experience and specialist skills as well, which a lot of well, I think the majority of our team, LGBTQ plus across the organisation and are specialists in their area. And we as a communications team of about four people couldn’t do that without that input, I guess.

But it’s just finding the way to do that so it doesn’t become a kind of loud noise and a bit of a free for all in some cases. But yeah, definitely all the best ideas always come after campaigns ended, don’t they? When you’re just about to hit that big red button isn’t it, that somebody will have that lightbulb moment, which is often really great.

But I think we’ve all been in that situation where it’s like, Oh no, why couldn’t this happen weeks ago, days ago, hours ago, months ago? But it’s just managing that, isn’t it, and really channelling it in a way that’s beneficial to everybody because everybody in this organization and of course, everyone in the organisation I’ve ever heard, everybody’s had some bright ideas and great ideas.

But it’s about managing that. So we are looking at ways to do that going forward as well and really co-producing the campaigns that we do within with the staff team also looking more broadly as well outside. But yeah, definitely the perks of, say, Perks, Head of Comms Prerogative is that you will easily get a text message at 9:00 at night about I had these really great ideas can we talk about it first thing in the morning And I’m like, yeah, I’m in the bath.

Astra
Oh, you’re very good to even entertain it while you’re in the bath I suppose. I suppose it’s quite hard. As you say, the LGBT Foundation is made up of loads of queer creatives it’s part of your identity. So it’s hard to switch off from work. I’m an ambassador for the LGBT Foundation even when I’m in the bath.

Matthew
And yeah, in the bath isn’t ideal, but I think you’ve kind of hit the nail on the head there. It is incredibly difficult to switch off from something that is your identity. And my previous role I organised festivals and events based all over the country, and with that I could just close my laptop down off I go. I’m not organising events.

I’m not even organising taxis to go anywhere. Not even organising bus trips are getting friends from A to B. Here, it’s completely different. You’re kind of always is, particularly in the comms role, aware of what’s going on. As soon as you see something in the news, which there is a lot of LGBTQ plus stuff at the moment out there, particularly trans and non-binary, you are immediately almost brought back into work mode, which is yeah, it’s a thing that comes with the territory and I think it’s something that I’m personally looking at trying to manage a little bit more because of our own health and wellbeing as staff members and as LGBTQ plus community members as well.

Astra
Yeah, that’s it. I mean, obviously, you have to be reactive to a lot of the terrible stuff that happens to the community across the globe. And you know, that’s quite a common thing in charities. You hear about some horrific stuff and you have to retell the horrific stuff in a way that engages your audience so that they fundraise for you and, you know, spread the message.

But it is a huge burden to bare. How do you deal with the pressure of that at the moment? How do you not take it home?

Matthew
It’s it’s tough not to take it home. We kind of know as LGBTQ plus people that in some respects we’re always on the clock. But we as as an organisation, LGBT Foundation does an amazing job of offering care to its staff, counselling services to its own staff as well, and really looking out for each other. And one of the things that we try and do, and I do it a lot with my team, is telling them it is okay not to be on social media for work purposes.

It is okay not to read the news outside of work and it is okay to not answer a work related email. A team’s message on WhatsApp outside of work hours is absolutely okay to do, but it’s difficult when particularly in the comms and marketing role when we’re dealing with things like social media, and email messaging. But the social media account formerly known as Twitter and things like that is just incredibly difficult when we’re doing so much good, we’re putting so much good messaging out there, advocating for a better place for LGBTQ plus people, trans/non-binary people.

And you do it does feel like you’re swimming against the tide a little bit, particularly with X at the moment, which is incredibly hostile for a lot of LGBTQ plus people at the moment. So the way that I personally deal with it is I have to take a step back and realise, you know what, I can as a person, queer person that’s dedicated this organisation that we can’t help everybody and we that we get a lot of inquiries from overseas as well, from people who really need help getting out of countries.

And that is traumatic in itself because they are the people that we can’t help. So we do try and signpost as much as possible. But then there is also the constant narrative that we’re seeing at the moment in the news. And as I was saying on social media, where people are just invalidating identities and it is incredibly tough not to take that personally.

I’m very forthcoming about how difficult that is in a comms role with anyone that we bring into the team. And we have to find a way to deal with that. Otherwise, it’s just your health and wellbeing and mental health is going to go completely down the drain. And, I think the whole thing is that there is so much negativity out there, but there’s so much good as well.

And I have to constantly remind myself and the team here that actually what we’re seeing on things like social media is actually the tiniest, tiniest echo chamber in the world. And we see statistics out there that show actually the majority of people, particularly in the UK, are really supportive of LGBTQ plus people as a whole and even trans and non-binary people, which if you have to just completely follow the right-wing media at the moment you would think that everybody hates trans and non-binary people and they’re so demonised at the moment.

But actually you look at the government’s own research, the government’s own research shows that actually, the majority of people are absolutely fine with trans/ non-binary people. They think it is really important. We’ve still you’ve still got ground, haven’t you, if people who don’t care either way. But it is and there is not as many people as you would believe out there who have an issue in this country with LGBTQ plus people, you see pride all the time and the celebrations that are happening.

You see the representation on TV is increasing. You see things like Heart Stopper for example, that.

Astra
Oh my God, just finished that last night.

Matthew
I’m only on every episode two of season two, but there is so much positive representation out there and actually that wouldn’t even make it through the fence if that the kind of environment out there was as bad as the media would have you think not to take away from it because of how actually damaging that is to a lot of trans and non-binary people.

Matthew
But there is there is a lot of support out there, and I cling on to the fact that that is what’s out there, that people are overwhelmingly, in my view, positive about LGBT people at LGBTQ plus people’s experience going there. So that’s what I cling on to, to kind of get through the cesspit of social media.

Jason
Those algorithms are just mad aren’t they?

Matthew
They’re out to get you.

Jason
Yeah they are they’re so react like they feed off of that negativity since there is just is this fuel for the fire of how they work which is terrible I’ve had to come off X for that reason. It’s just it’s just is constantly giving you things to be annoyed about, be angry about, and it’s just not good for your health.

It’s so but it’s not. On that point about support, we had Emily Cherry from Bikeability on and she talks about that, about how you get exposed to so many of these stories with The Breck Foundation she’s part of as well. And they’ve got a charity called My Black Dog that kind of has focused in the past on helping carers and people that help these really sensitive issues and help them because they need it.

You just ask. It’s very different from a job where you can switch off at the end of the day because you’re done, you’ve clocked out. You just can’t do that in this, in this kind of thing. And I’d like to ask a question about because we’ve got pride coming up obviously, and that is for many people, it’s a weekend.

For many people, it could be a great celebration. And for many people it’s like it’s the year thing. It’s a whole thing, right? And it is like, yeah, yeah, it’s the whole thing. So it does get sometimes taken by corporations as a way to kind of be relevant for a bit and then dip out and then so that change maybe their logo to the colours to represent pride and then slowly, quietly change it back when something happens on the news.

Well, I just want to get your thoughts on that. And is it good that they do it in the first place? So, yeah, just want to put your what your thoughts were on it.

Matthew
I think it is very nuanced as a question. I think everybody that you will ever ask this question will probably give you a slightly different answer for me. I like to think there is good intent behind it and any visibility I think is really positive for the most part. So imagine a young queer kid who’s really struggling with their gender identity, seeing the trans pride flag hung up, hanging outside Costa or Costa is not the best example because they are actually really good allies but hanging outside and like Sports Direct, let’s say, let’s just choose something how impactful that representation is.

So I think from that side, I think it is really positive. I think the important thing for a lot of charities and a lot of charities like ours, particularly when we go into kind of partnership with a lot of corporates, is that It can’t just be a month-long thing that has to be a real 365 day commitment to LGBTQ plus communities and staff and so on and so forth.

That goes beyond changing your social media to a rainbow and asking your queer member of staff to write a blog on what Pride means to them is is a really important stepping stone. And for a lot of people that is kind of their gateway, I guess, into understanding the kind of LGBTQ plus work. But it just has it has to be that stepping stone, it has to be that starting point for a conversation.

It has to be that starting point for organisations to look internally themselves, look at what they’re doing for their staff, what their policies are, and what their wider commitment is. And it’s something that we really kind of talk to our corporate partners about, is that actually whatever you’re doing, you just can’t leave from Pride Month all ahead of Manchester Pride.

You can use that as a starting point. You can use it as your big moment of celebration. But actually, so many times out there that LGBTQ plus people need representation and the change has to be meaningful. I most people can sniff a bit of lip service out a mile away. We saw with kind of their backlash when Black Lives Matter was happening during the Mid-pandemic, we saw so many organisations just have that whole social media blackout and things, but actually, nobody was looking at what their diversity policies were, what the support they were giving, more broadly, how they were involved, involving lived experiences within the work that they’re doing.

And it’s exactly the same when we’re talking about corporates with pride as well. There are so many organisations that are doing great work out there for LGBTQ plus people, and I think it’s changing a lot. I think people are kind of getting behind a little bit more that actually, you know what? This can’t just be a pride flag in a window and we’ll kind of call it a day because people are kind of too canny for that.

And people realise that. And we are seeing a lot of organisations at the moment doing more. I mean, we look at Wagamama is in the middle of Manchester, for example, by St Peter’s Square. They’ve had that flag, that progress flag in their sign since that kind of opened years and years ago. So there’s an indication that there’s a real commitment there going forward as well.

And that’s kind of what I want to see from people I’m really welcoming that visibility. People I don’t know, making that kind of visual, I guess, commitment. But I want to see we want to see in practice, I want to see in practice, in the community, want to see in practice, because it just will not be long till we get figured out that that’s not a long-term commitment.

You’re just doing it to kind of capitalise on something as well that will backfire. Yeah, massively.

Jason
Join on the weekend, but be there on a weekday as well.

Matthew
Be there on the weekday. Be there 365 days a year. Call out LGBTQ plus phobia when you see it and stand by your LGBTQ plus staff, stand by Call out transphobia when you see it. Don’t change your policies or directions just because you’ve had one negative comment on Twitter about an inclusive post. For example. Just don’t do that. Because actually, if you truly believe in what you’re doing and that won’t matter at all, if you really believe what you’re doing is the right thing, then why do you care about somebody on Twitter who’s saying, I, I don’t think we should be having kind of pictures of two queer people with a kid on a shop window or whatever. It’s like, it doesn’t matter. Those people exist and it’s like that. They’ve just as right to representation to be included in things as anyone else.

Astra
Very levelheaded response.

Matthew
Yeah, that’s my very political answer to that one

Astra
Save the rest for the smoking area in the bars.

Matthew
Honestly

Astra
Let’s Go onto obviously pride this weekend in Manchester sorry not this weekend next weekend in Manchester. In what capacity are you guys partnering with the bit this year because you do have a big partnership and then part B to that question is do you see an immediate kickback in people using your services? Is that an elevated number of people reaching out to you? What kind of effect does that partnership have for you guys?

Matthew
So Manchester Pride is always kind of been a very close partner of LGBT Foundation. As we all know, Manchester Pride is their big one of the biggest celebrations of queer life in the country, and it is a massive party and a bit of a kind of celebration at the end of the summer as well. So we’ve worked with them for a very, very long time this year where working with them as partners off of their community lane, which is an area, that area on the Manchester Pride site dedicated to charities, groups, businesses who are all working in the kind of LGBTQ plus sphere if you like.

So we’re working with them to make sure that there’s a real representation of diversity and inclusivity in terms of organisations that are working across Manchester. And we’re also doing quite a lot of wraparound health and well-being activity this year. So we’re supporting LGBTQ plus people who perhaps don’t have the best relationship with pride to really find a way of celebrating pride in a way that’s right for them.

So we’re doing quite a lot of activity ahead of pride this year during and after. So we’re doing that while holding a Sapphic showcase, which is a celebration of LGBTQ plus women’s talents across Greater Manchester. We’re doing a sober celebration. So people who have a difficult relationship with alcohol can come and celebrate Pride we are getting some DJ’s in who are sober as well to come in put on a bit of a party.

We’re doing a lot of work around sexual health. Sexual health is one of LGBT Foundation’s kind of core services. So we’ve got our passion parade happening this year as well, which will see a lot of our gang walk around with ice cream trays, giving out condoms, safer sex packs, guys on how to have good, passionate sex and really giving people the advice that they need to make decisions and kind of sex That’s right for them.

We’re holding a couple of events around kind of unifying communities. So we’ve got our Campus of Unity event, which is where people can come along and have artistic expressions of what pride means to them. But I think the real thing that I think is important for us and what is kind of the value that we add to Manchester Pride as well, is that we know the safety needs of our community.

So we’re having a lot of our kind of village Angels on site at Pride this year, and they’re going to be helping at the welcome days just to greet people that are a very well-known group of people around the village helping people who are having a bit of a difficult time. But we’re also looking beyond pride as well as pride can be an amazing event for a lot of people.

It can be the big party, it can be like Queer Christmas is always the term that’s thrown around as well, but it can be quite triggering for a lot of people. So we’re doing a lot of work afterwards on wellbeing as well and helping people reset. So we’re holding an event as well called Wellbeing Wednesday where people can come along, talk about any negative experiences you might have had at Pride in terms of domestic abuse, or relapses with drugs and alcohol and we’re there to help them reset as well.
So we couldn’t do it without pride. I mean, as I was saying, it’s a massive celebration. It’s an international pride as well. It gets people from all over the country and internationally as well. And from a comms perspective, us having a presence on community Lane being one of that kind of marquee organisations is really important to us. Help raise raised recognition of the work that we do.
We’re already fairly well known in Manchester, but I think getting out there at Pride, seeing what we’re about to do, having a presence on community lane, having to stand where people can come and meet us, find out more about what we do. It’s a fantastic opportunity and yeah, rarely we look forward to it every year. It’s fantastic to get out there and just meet the community and tell them all about the work we do as well and have some fun as well.

It’s really important to not to not kind of shy away from that and looking at kind of the parade entry that we have, for example, and seeing the streets lined with people cheering LGBTQ plus people on, it’s just amazing to see. And it’s always one that pulls at the heartstrings as well. So I would say if you’ve ever been in a pride parade before, or haven’t, go ahead and do it.

It’s just it’s so heartwarming to see the support out there.

Jason
Yeah. Is is it’s a great way. This is really building the hype for me as we come towards it. And what about, so after you’ve done after you’ve like everything is calmed a little bit and you’ve done the wellness Wednesdays, what’s the next big kind of thing in the calendar or the next big project or campaign that you’ve got your eye on or you’ve focused on this at the moment?

Matthew
Oh, we’re always looking ahead to the next big thing. I think as comms professionals, the work is never done, is it? So next we’ve got a couple of big campaigns coming up that we’re kind of finalising and getting ready to announce after Pride as well. We’re looking at doing some work around World AIDS Day as well, which is always a big one for us.

We’re looking at doing quite a big fundraising campaign as well to the tail end by the beginning of winter. And we’re also launching a new website as well. So hopefully that will all be ready to go post-Pride as well. We’re going to start planning our LGBT History Month activity as well. That’s another month-long celebration for us, as well as some kind of small campaigns that we’ve got going on as well around health and wellbeing that really relate to the work we do as well.

So even though it feels like Pride is the big one is what kind of say, 365 days a year here as well. But some amazing stuff that’s coming up and I LGBT history month is a real favourite of mine. I just can’t wait to to get my teeth into it as well. And the other thing we’ve got coming up as well as we’ll look in introducing more co-production, going more broadly with some of the work we do and finding ways to include the community and the public more broadly in the work that we’re doing as well here.
LGBT Foundation. So watch this space for info about that.

Astra
Awesome. Well, that’s you’ve given us so much we could keep going on because there’s so much that you guys do to talk about, Is there anything that you want to shine a light on before we move on to segment two that we haven’t talked about yet?

Matthew
No, I think it’s I think it’s just really important to acknowledge that yeah Pride is not a weekend thing or a month long thing. It’s 365 days a year and it’s been being LGBTQ plus and being queer is so special in some ways and it’s so vibrant and so amazing to have that identity and I really want to change the perception, I guess, that a lot of people have about LGBTQ plus people, and that’s kind of the reason that I do the work that we do.

Astra
Oh, amazing. Well, that’s a lovely kind of note to end the segment on. I will pass over to you, Jason, for segment two if you want to introduce it. Jason and quiz us, quiz away.

Jason
Yeah, sure. So this part is called Fake Facts and we’re going to do three statements. One of them is false and the job for both of you is to tell me which one is false. So I’m going to bring it up on screen. And for the audio listeners, oh, can you enable screen sharing please?

Astra
On the night here you can go.

Jason
And yeah so for the listeners I will explain each question to and okay let’s get this going. Okay so set question one first statement 30% of trans non-binary birth parents do not access any NHS or private support during their pregnancies. Statement two Only 41% of trans and non-binary birth parents felt they were spoken to in a way which respected their gender all the time and free 5% of trans and non-binary birthing parents said they were not treated with dignity and respect during labor.

Astra
Oh, we should. And by the way, I think these are all based on research that LGBT Foundation has done. Just for the listeners so Matt should be an expert

Jason
Stitched up there.

Matthew
Stitched

Astra
And I think I’m tempted to say I don’t think they’ve set up trans/ non-binary, but they didn’t have access to NHS or private support. And I do think that those that will have done a lot of them probably weren’t respected. So I think I think the middle one is fake. 41% of trans and non-binary birth parents felt like they were spoken to in a way which respected their gender. What do you think, Matt?

Matthew
Yeah, I think I actually think it’s the 5%. I think that number is higher.

Astra
Okay. Yeah, that’s a good point.

Jason
Yeah. I don’t know the answers so I can play this game as well. And I also think I agree with Matt. I think 5% is way, way too low for that.

Astra
Okay, Which one is it?

Jason
Yeah.

Astra
There you go. One point each to you guys.

Jason
Say the fact was that 5% of trans and non-binary birthing parents said they were not treated with dignity and respect during labor is actually 28%.

And the next one is in 2017, 21% of LGBT people reported that they had experienced a homophobic biphobic or transphobic hate crime in the previous 12 months. The second statement is that 50% of homeless people aged 16 to 24 are LGBT, and the third one is 55% of gay, bisexual and trans men were not active enough to maintain good health, compared to 33% of men in the general population.

Astra
Matt, I’ll let you lead this conversation this time.

Matthew
Yeah, I let me think. I think it’s either a fake fact is either one or I think it’s one. I think that number is higher than that figure. I think homeless people aged 16 to 24 are LGBT. Could be correct as a as a figure, 55% of gay, lesbian and transgender will not act to maintain good health compared to 33%.
I think that number. I don’t know, actually, because I am. It’s a tricky one. I think it is tiny, although I think one or I think one or three are the fake one. So if I can have two, two guesses.

Astra
I’m going to.

Matthew
Im going to pick, 55% of people were not active enough is the fake one.

Astra
I’m going to go with one for the same reason that I think 21% is too low.

Matthew
It’s the I think it’s one of those two. So we’ll split it.

Astra
Yes, split the difference.

Jason
I’m going to go for an optimistic second option and hope that that number is lower.

Astra
It’s just about competition now. It’s not about what’s wrong. I was right. Oh, no way.

Matthew
Wow.

Jason
This is looking suspicious.

Astra
This is just so this is on the counter.

Jason
I don’t. I haven’t seen that. So, yes, 50% is actually 24. Still high. 24% of homeless people aged 16 to 24 are LGBT.

Astra
And blimey, it’s actually terrifying to think that there’s even a population of 16 to 24 year old homeless in the first place. Yeah.

Matthew
So yeah.

Jason
So 39% of lesbian, gay and bisexual people consider their own family’s attitudes to be a barrier to becoming a parent. And 20% of lesbian, gay and bisexual people expect to face barriers if they applied to become a foster parent. And 74% of lesbian, gay and bisexual people consider bullying of children with gay parents at school as a barrier to becoming a parent.

Astra
Oh, I feel like I could almost all be true.

Matthew
Yeah, I was thinking I was. I took all.

Astra
Of it from fake.

Matthew
Really?

Astra
Yeah.

Jason
I would expect. I think second one is higher. So I think that’s the thing.

Astra
Yeah. The third one is the third one too high. Not that I’m obviously saying that it doesn’t happen. I think that it does. I would just 74% it is incredibly high if that’s the case. Obviously incredibly sad.

Matthew
Yeah. I’m going to go for the third one as fake. I hope it isn’t that high.

Astra
Yeah, that’s what I’m thinking. And I’m thinking as well, especially now when people have sort of like child having age. Yeah, that where we’re raising more progressive kids, we’re not going to bully children with gay parents. That’s optimistic things.

Matthew
Yeah, that’s what I’m going with the positive here that that’s too high. But yeah I think any of them are pretty gross statistics.

Jason
We like to cheer people up on this podcast.

Astra
We’ve had some help from the things you’re doing now, like there’s some sadness.

Jason
Oh, as a kid, I promise I haven’t seen these answers. It’s really honestly. So it’s actually 80%, 80% of lesbian, gay, bisexual people expect to face barriers if they applied to become a foster parent.

Astra
Wow. Yeah.

Matthew
That makes complete sense when you kind of think about kind of what we’re saying, is that it they could all be.

Astra
Yeah.

Matthew
Real or fake. It’s a tough one.

Astra
Yeah. Do you guys the homelessness one kind of stuck out in my mind. Do you guys have a service that reaches out to We go, Do you work with much?

Matthew
We work for we do a little bit homeless through our domestic abuse and sexual violence service. So we do offer some support through that is an area of interest and I think it’s an area of kind of that will actually grow as an area of interest, not just the LGBT Foundation, but more broadly, because it’s interesting. Think about the homeless figure in particular is there’s so much hidden figures around that, like how we record homeless people. There are so many people on the street. So I think that for me with that number, I, I think that could be really up for grabs in terms of that at the moment. There’s just so much in terms of this kind of data analysis in the statistics gathering and the intersectionality that comes with being homeless anyway. But yeah, I mean, all those numbers are really gross in a way to kind of see out there.

Jason
Yeah, Yeah. It shows how important the work is that you guys do and how much more there is to do.

Matthew
But there’s always, there’s always work to do. There’s there’s always going to be queer people that need help. And yeah, those figures really shine a light on the work that we do in the need for the service that we provide.

Astra
For that third and final segment is strategy analogy but we’ve kind of we were talking about it the other day. We should probably rename the section because it doesn’t really we don’t reduce that. You know, we just kind of try and summarise The chat that we’ve just had is using a random word, which we will generate via a random word generator. I’m not going to lie. The first one that just generated is refrigerator. So I’m going to do another one because it’s cold.

Matthew
You find food and you find things in that you’ve left behind for about four years, I think, Oh, that’ll work now.

Astra
To be honest, that is like most campaigns by people that time I must that again. But maybe it’s a good. So the second chance saloon is passion. Passion passion. I mean my summary would be obviously the passion that you have for your role within LGBT Foundation is really evident and how involved you are with every single service. It’s really commendable and it’s it’s nice that you guys have such a creative and passionate community around you and to do the work. So that’s my summary.

Matthew
Yeah. Oh, you want to go ahead.

Jason
Yeah, I’ve got, I’ve got, I’ve got one on this. I very rarely have one. So I’d say what touched me was when you talked about how like there’s going to be everyone’s going to have an opinion and an idea about this stuff. And because it’s such an emotive and passionate subject for so many people because it’s there as, you say, and it’s such a big part of their identity.

So having that resource is great, but also managing that resource and being able to focus on I mean, if you go to the website and I implore everyone to go to the website and check out just how many things these guys cover and the support they offer, it’s huge. There’s so many things. So I think passion is so good and it can also be really hard to manage too.

And it also, as you’ve covered it, you take it home with you and it can eat away at you and it can stop you being as good the next day in your job. So yeah, passion is a great word for this because it has all been about passion really its the reason you get up and do stuff. And it’s also potentially the reason why it can be hard at times and not be because of, say.

Matthew
Passion. I think I’m really glad that that’s the kind of word I get to kind of talk about here. I think it’s it’s so important in a marketing and a comms role to have that passion for the work you do to deal with kind of everything we spoke about today, to deal with everybody wanting to have an opinion on it, everybody wanting to have their say, everyone’s getting involved, which in itself I think comes in passion.
And I think for any organisation, particularly a charity, you wouldn’t be there if you didn’t care about the work that you do and you want to do the best. You want to make sure that passion runs through everything we do. And funnily enough, passion is one of our values here at LGBT Foundation.

I mean, passion runs through everything doesn’t I mean, everybody has to be passionate about the work that they do and, in a comms role you have to let that shine through the work that we’re doing, whether that’s you work for charity, you’re selling used cars or whatever, you have to be passionate about it.

You have to be able to get up in the morning and feel like you want to be here. You want to be doing this particularly against all the adversary that we face as a community and as an organisation where people are out to get, as in the reality is, people are out to bring this down but we fight because we believe that LGBTQ plus people deserve a deserve to be here, deserve a place at the table to be respected.

And I think the passion for everything and all the pride events that happen across the country and hearing people say, Why do we need pride? And it’s like we need pride because we need to celebrate a community that just want to be loved, just want to love each other and just want to really go about the day-to-day lives and being incredibly boring about everything that we do.

There’s nothing scandalous that goes on about LGBTQ plus, I just want to go home and to my boyfriend and just want to kind of hang out and watch TV. There’s nothing scandalous about that about there. But I implore people to really look at the LGBTQ plus community. If you’ve never really kind of engaged with people and just realise that people just want to be passionate with each other, I guess, and people just want to be loved.

And it gets me up every morning, and it’s the reason that I do the work that I do. And yeah, I think we just want to help queer people, just want to go out and about on the day-to-day and love who they love. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

Astra
No, I don’t think we can add anything that makes that statement shine anymore. With that will say thank you very much for coming on. It’s been an honour.

Matthew
Thank you for having me.

Jason
Is there anyone that you would do great work that you’d like to share some light to? It may be in or out, but outside of the community, we’d love to hear what work they’re doing and why they’re great.

Matthew
So There’s so many people that are doing great work, but I do want to give a shout-out to Jodi Fox at Studio Zenko, who’s a marketing director, and she’s doing some absolutely fantastic work around trans inclusion. She’s part of the Pride in Leadership Network. She’s absolutely inspirational I’ve been lucky enough to meet her a couple of times. And there’s Aby Hawker, who runs TransMission PR, who’s a cis woman who is dedicated to her business to improving trans and non-binary representation in businesses as well. I think there’s some really inspirational work there and I think for Jody to be a trans woman and do the work she does is really inspirational, and for Abby to be a cis woman and dedicate her business to improving the representation of trans/ non-binary people in marketing and PR and comms, it it’s just it’s so inspirational. So just a massive shout-out and a thank you. If they’re listening, I guess, for all the work that they do.

Astra
Oh, well, we’ll put it all over social media so we can tag them. Thank you so much for joining us Matt.

Matthew
No, pleasure and thank you for having me.

Astra
Goodbye. We’ll see you again soon.

Jason
Bye.

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