LGB Alliance to plan helpline with Lottery funding

[pombear]

Fantastic news.

I would link to their Twitter announcement, but in usual state of play, Twitter has marked it ' may not be appropriate for people under 18'. A helpline planned for 13 to 25 year olds, planned by a panel of experts in child protection, education, helpline delivery, fundraising and psychology.

Yep - shut them down (much better to have helplines planned by IT workers who took their child to Thailand...)

As LGB Alliance state there is no dedicated national service of its kind for young LGB people in the UK.

I'm sure the Lottery Fund will be getting a lot of feedback right now, given the outpouring of hyperbole against LGB Alliance right now on Twitter.

So they may appreciate feedback from those who may see this as a positive move too:

""We really value your feedback. If you have a comment or complaint about the services that we provide, or if there's something important you think we should know, we'd love to hear it. Please email us at [email protected]"

Just to point out that no adult groups involved with queer theory should be offering "counselling" "support" to children. We're in this mess because self invested adults have been allowed to "sell" their ideology to children with no filters - be they safeguarding, awareness of child psychology / development, age appropriate, professional supervision etc.

Counselling and offering support to children over something as complex as identity / sexuality is not for the untrained and needs proper training, management and supervision. Which I am sure that the LGB Alliance will plan for and provide.

Considering their usual tactics, I imagine activists are going to swamp the phone line the moment that it goes live and then ask leading questions so that they can post out of context and edited snippets on twitter.
Much like the occasional visitors we get to this board.

If this was a Stonewall group, they were probably using it for research purposes in order to develop their policy. In 16 years of being associated with Stonewall I never knew it put any resources directly into the community unless it was for its own purposes.

Stonewall didn't run or finance social groups or helplines. The regional reps kept lists of groups and organisation that they would refer people to if they contacted Stonewall looking for LGB groups in their area, but those weren't Stonewall groups.

I would expect that to be the tactic given the behaviour of various thought leaders on Twitter and elsewhere.

I would also like to think well enough of some key opinion leaders that they advise against this tactic because these is a helpline for young people who have chosen to reach out to this service.

Shanding your straw man building is wild. Undiagnosed children don't turn up at my group for adults diagnosed with ADHD.

I have already seen that be suggested by a small account listing as being in Florida. But as most free calls lines are not free when using them out of country it may end up as an expensive harrassment campaign.

The TRA would be engaged in self defeating activity as each call is driving the basic "Is there a demand metric". Which is supplying proof that the service is being used, therefore needs to expand, and needs bigger funding.

And harrassment of the line also prove the need too.

There are helplines where 13-25 year olds can go to discuss their gender identity. There are helplines where 13-25 year olds can go to discuss either their sexual identity or their gender identity. I see no reason why there shouldn’t be a helpline for 13-25 year olds to discuss their sexual identity. Protests to the contrary reek of homophobia to me.

It doesn’t follow. Again, why are you trying to drag trans into a conversation about sexuality?

None of those are specifically for children.

What are you talking about? Several of those organisations linked to provide specific support helplines to children.

I'm shocked frankly that there are none for gay kids - you'd have thought Stonewall would have prioritised that.

Thank goodness LBGA are doing something about that lack of support which almost certainly has been extremely harmful to many young people.

If there is a dedicated phone line just for teens who think they are LGB then it follows that there will be a phone line just for teens who think they are trans.
There are several phone lines for teens who think they are trans.

I would like to think that the people manning the trans helplines are sufficiently trained to recognise that a teen saying they are trans may struggling with being gay, able to explore that with them, and to signpost accordingly. Now they'll have somewhere to signpost to - isn't that great.

Mermaids are an excellent source of info for all.
As they explain here, I know trans people who use "born in the wrong body" to describe how they feel, and no-one is telling them that they're wrong, how they feel is not for anyone else to tell them. mermaidsuk.org.uk/news/do-you-still-use-the-phrase-born-in-the-wrong-body/

And of course LGB Alliance are anti-trans, it's the reason they were set up in the first place!
Quote Bev Jacksn, joint founder of LGBA: "We’re applying for charitable status and building an organization to challenge the dominance of those who promote the damaging theory of gender identity."
They see gender identity as damaging and are against it - ANTI trans.

Why would that be a problem though - the counsellors at the end of the phone line will be fully trained and experienced enough to provide support and to signpost the teen to other helplines if they're more appropriate.

Surely you don't think people manning TQ+ helplines would use a young person's distress to further their own activism?

I think this is great news. I've sent over my details to LGBA to offer volunteer assistance when they're ready.

Well then that's disgusting. I'm surprised as a TRA you're happy to admit that frankly - perhaps you should formally complain to Mermaids et al.

I would be pretty certain LGBA's counsellors wouldn't do that - it seems to be a very ethical organising that centres safeguarding. Which is very good news for struggling teens.

Would that be the opinion of the trustees/directors, otherwise known as trust me bro?

Absolutely, you don't?

Weird, earlier you seemed quite convinced that counsellors manning LGBTQ+ helplines wouldn't do that, despite the fact that it's precisely the same people, subscribing to the same orthodoxies, in the TQ+ charities as the LGBTQ+ charities.

Anyway, since you believe that TQ+ organisations are likely to be inappropriate and unhelpful for young people you've made the case yourself as to why an LGB helpline run by people who don't believe in LGBTQ+ orthodoxies is necessary.