“Do I tell them I am LGBT?” “Is it safe?” “Will they discriminate against me? – These are some of the questions that almost every LGBT person thinks about when thinking about accessing services”.
There is admittedly a danger that the size of the problems faced by LGBT people according to the research and anecdotal evidence might lead to a self fulfilling prophecy which reinforces a sense of collective LGBT victimhood, according to keynote presenter Tim Franks, CEO of PACE. But whilst acknowledging the diversity of life experiences of LGBT people, it could not be denied that many LGBT people who had accessed PACE had experienced “hideous, brutal, traumatic, terribly damaging and consistent hostility because of their identity”, he said. This included discrimination from statutory health services designed to help them.
PACE is a London-based mental health service for LGBT people. It offers counselling, therapy, advocacy and employment project for LGBT people of all ages and backgrounds. “Do I tell them I am LGBT?” “Is it safe?” “Will they discriminate against me? – These are some of the questions that almost every LGBT person thinks about when thinking about accessing services” Said Franks.
“But clients who come to us don’t have to wrestle with issues of ‘coming out’. We come out to them because we are advertised as an LGBT service. This minimises the fear that their LGBT identity will not be accepted”. This was especially important where mental health needs and identity were deeply interconnected, for example, for a person in the process of coming out in a deeply hostile family.
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