Our Supporters
Angela Eagle
M.P. for Wallasey since 1992.
She served as Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury. She is one of the few public figures in Britain who feels able to celebrate her lesbian identity openly and be completely comfortable with who she is. Her level of achievement shows that it is possible to get to the very top in British politics despite media homophobia.
We feel deeply honoured that Angela has pledged her support for Allsorts and LGBT young people. Her twin sister Maria met with four members of Allsorts during the consultation phase of Youth Matters and modified the final draft to include LGBT youth. We presented Maria with an Allsorts Warriors cap to give to Angela with a message of thanks to her for being such a hero for us all!
A brief view of Angela’s biography:
She has been Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Office (2001-02); the Department of Social Security (1998-01); the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Minister for Green Issues and Regeneration) (1997-98); and was an Opposition Whip (1996-97).
She has been on a number of Commons Select Committees, including the Public Accounts Select Committee; Treasury Select Committee, and the Treasury Sub-Committee. Angela has also been Vice-chair of the All-Party Equalities Group.
She was elected as the first ever Labour MP for Wallasey in 1992, after holding a number of posts within the Labour Party. Angela was educated at Formby High School, and then gained a BA (Hons) in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and St John’s College Oxford. She worked for CoHSE (now UNISON) as a Researcher, the Press Officer, and then Parliamentary Liaison Officer, before being elected to Parliament.
Angela’s political interests include Economic Policy, the NHS, and the politics of sport.
Andrew Wealls
Councillor, Conservative Member for Central Hove
In Brighton & Hove it’s critical that young LGBT people get the support and help they need, and Allsorts are just brilliant at providing it. Homophobia and transphobia sadly remain alive and well in our city, presenting many young LGBT people with frightening challenges. Allsorts is there with genuine warmth and practical help so young LGBT people are able to achieve all their potential and lead happy and fulfilling lives.’
Bernard and Terry Reed
Trustees of GIRES (Gender Identity Research and Education Society)
Bernard and Terry Reed helped their trans daughter to win a landmark sex discrimination case in 1997. Then, with a group of trans activists, they established the Gender Identity Research and Education Society (GIRES) as a registered charity. The GIRES trustees are trans people, or their relatives or friends, as are most of the charity’s 370 individual members. The charity is frequently called upon to advise policy makers, at national and local level, with regard to trans issues. It has also recruited 46 organisations as Corporate Members, which are involved in healthcare provision and regulation, education, policing, local and central government, sport, financial services, publishing, television, aviation and information technology.
GIRES promotes research into gender identity development. It has good working relationships with the professionals around the world who specialise in the trans sphere. With their help, it conducted a successful campaign to improve the medical care offered to gender variant adolescents in the UK. GIRES supports its Corporate Members and other organizations in engaging with the trans community, developing policies and practices, training, e-learning and design of a healthcare scheme for trans employees. GIRES operates a national system for reporting transphobic crime, offers on online e-learning resource for local authorities and maintains an online directory of trans support organisations. GIRES supplies a wide range of literature and its website provides a wealth of material, including a toolkit for schools to use in combating transphobic bullying. The website is accessed from 189 countries and its use has grown rapidly (http://www.gires.org.uk).
Bernard and Terry are both members of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and present papers at professional conferences internationally. Terry is a member of the Parliamentary Forum on Gender Identity and of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Intercollegiate Committee on treating gender dysphoria. They were each awarded the OBE in 2010 in recognition of their services to the charity.
Caroline Lucas
MP for Brighton Pavillion, the first Green Member of Parliament!
She was elected to the European Parliament as one of the Green Party’s first MEPs in June 1999 to represent the South East of England region. She was a member of the Parliament’s Committees working on International Trade, the Environment, and Climate Change and the cross-party groups on LGBT rights, peace, and consumer affairs, and animal welfare issues.
Dr Lucas is a Vice President of the RSPCA, the Stop the War Coalition, Campaign Against Climate Change and Environmental Protection UK (formerly National Society for Clean Air), as well as a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament National Council and a Director of the International Forum on Globalization.
She been named ‘Observer Politician of the Year’ and listed as one of the UK’s most influential environmentalists by The Guardian, BBC Wildlife and Ethical Consumer magazines.
She said: “Allsorts is a vital and successful group. It makes all the difference to people trying to come to terms with their sexuality: one of the hardest things we ever do. But we mustn’t forget that a visible community and excellent support services don’t by themselves remove the stresses of one of the most difficult periods in our life – especially when homophobic bullying is ever-present in our schools, sexually-motivated attacks and abuse remain commonplace and even our Government is prepared to send gay and lesbian asylum seekers ‘home’ to face torture or imprisonment. We need to tackle the causes and cases of homophobia and ignorance as well as supporting the excellent work of groups like Allsorts, making it a little easier for all young people to come to a clearer and more positive understanding of their sexuality, not just here in Brighton – which has one of the most vibrant LGBT communities in the world – but in every country across the globe.”
Charles Hendry
MP for Wealden since 2001 and is Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change.
Charles was the Deputy Chair of the Conservative Party and Shadow Minister for Young People. He was Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Homelessness.
He says: I am delighted to give my support to Allsorts Youth Project and to pay tribute to the work it does.
A few years ago, when I was Shadow Minister for Young People, I visited Allsorts to gain a better understanding of the issues facing LGB young people. The stories of homophobic abuse, which I heard, made me determined to do what I could as a politician to address them – it could not be right in the 21st Century that such abuse could be so commonplace.
The result was a Summit in the Houses of Parliament, when we brought together 100 representatives of voluntary organisations working with LGB young people from across the country to discuss the issues of bullying, health and general support for the voluntary sector. At the time, nothing like it had been done before and it created quite a stir – it says a lot about how far our society has moved since then, that no-one would bat an eyelid today about politicians addressing such issues.
Since then of course we have had the Civil Partnership legislation and laws to stop discrimination and the world has changed greatly, but Allsorts deserves its piece of history for the contribution it made – and its young people and youth leaders, in particular, made – to having the issues which LGBT young people face day-by-day taken more seriously by politicians.
Having had the chance to meet up again with Allsorts volunteers again recently, I am delighted to know that, for so many young people in Brighton & Hove, Allsorts continues to provide a source of support and haven of safety and security. We owe a great debt of gratitude to all those who make this possible.
Paul Elgood
Former Leader of the Liberal Democrats of Brighton and Hove City Council
I cannot commend the work of Allsorts more highly. They have made an outstanding contribution to the lives of many young people in the city who need the space, time and support to make their own choices and come to terms with who they are. As a teenager in Brighton myself a few years ago, I know what this means.
Well done to all involved and thank you for your fantastic contribution to our community
