784 school clubs offer LGBTQ+ support and boost tolerance – thanks to £400k Lotto funding

The Sun

6 days ago

GIVING young people a voice – that's what drives Laura Mackay, CEO of LGBTQ+ charity Just Like Us.
And, thanks to over £400,000 of funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, those voices are only getting louder.
'If we listen to young people, there's so much kindness, passion and understanding there,' says Laura (top).
'We just need to give them the means to express themselves.'
Just Like Us was founded in 2016 and its national network of LGBTQ+ lunchtime and after-school clubs, called Pride Groups, is one of its flagship programmes.
The charity gives secondary schools all they need to set up and run a group – including online training for student leaders, posters, guides and fortnightly activity suggestions.
Just Like Us now offers schools free Pride Groups resources, thanks to National Lottery funding.
Laura – who became CEO of Just Like Us in 2023 after a teaching career – knows, from personal and professional experience, how vital this kind of empowerment is for LGBTQ+ young people.
£98m: National Lottery funding towards LGBTQ+ projects
'When I was a pupil at secondary school, Section 28 – which banned anything that could be seen as promoting homosexuality in schools – was still in place,' says Laura, 39.
'Despite having supportive friends, without any positive role models, I felt very alone.
'Coming out in sixth form, which felt like a safe space, was a relief.
'Keeping a secret, like your sexuality, takes up a lot of energy and creates a sense of shame.
'Unsurprisingly, LGBTQ+ young people experience higher rates of mental health issues than their peers.
3
'That's why I'm so passionate about our Pride Groups – and so grateful to National Lottery funding.'
Laura faced the question of when – or whether – to come out during her teaching career.
'I wanted to be known as the good teacher, not the gay teacher,' Laura says.
'But I was lucky to be in a supportive environment, with a staff working group focused on LGBTQ+ inclusion.
'So about 18 months into the job I plucked up the courage to start leading LGBTQ+ assemblies.
'I'm quite masculine-presenting so before I came out kids made homophobic comments.
'Afterwards all that stopped – I was owning my identity. Everybody deserves that freedom.'
Coming out also allowed Laura, who rose through the teaching ranks to become assistant principal of a London academy, to advocate for LGBTQ+ students.
'A group of Year 9 girls told me their friend didn't feel she could come out at home because of her faith,' Laura says.
'They wanted to support her in school, so we came up with the idea of a Pride Group.
'We set out its values and rules and made a film of interviews with LGBTQ+ members of the school community.
Young people have so much kindness and passion – we've just given them the means to express it
'It's how I first discovered Just Like Us. We were so inspired by their work, we organised a bake sale to fundraise for them.'
Now, at Just Like Us, Laura oversees 784 Pride Groups across the UK – a figure that has climbed up from 250 at the start of the year thanks to National Lottery funding, which makes the resources free for every school.
'During School Diversity Week in June, we presented the student leader of the year award – handed over by our new patron, Dr Ronx Ikharia – to Aoife, who had just started secondary school when she set up a Pride Group,' Laura says.
'Year 7 and already a changemaker – she'll be prime minister one day!
'Pride Groups also create allies. One Year 10 boy felt too nervous to join his school's Pride Walk because he wasn't out yet.
'So a gang of his supposedly laddy mates walked with him – it was good to see allyship in action.'
Next year, backed by National Lottery funding, Just Like Us will partner with disability charities to better support disabled LGBTQ+ youth and will continue working with parents to keep young people safe at home.
'The National Lottery team are curious and collaborative,' Laura says. 'They listen and are keen to track impact.
'But can I just say that I can't thank National Lottery players enough – every ticket sold helps make school a safer place for LGBTQ+ pupils.'