By Lucas Cross
Ireland has always had a hat in the ring when it comes to advocating and legislating for equality and inclusion, and our approach in youth work reflects that; grounded in a human rights-based approach. Proud Spaces is a three-year project funded by Erasmus+ that aims to provide evidence around the positive outcomes that youth work practices can and continue to achieve in supporting young LGBTQI+ people. The project focuses on developing tools to support youth workers and service providers alike in creating safe and inclusive spaces for LGBTQI+ youth. In the real world, young LGBTQI+ people across Europe share a common issue of not feeling secure, accepted and safe in the way other young people that they share space with do without question. According to the European Commission LGBTQI+ Equality Strategy, 43% of LGBTQI+ people stated that they felt discriminated against in 2019, compared to 37% in 2012. That increase in the space of seven years paints a picture of the ongoing work that is needed for our ever-growing queer youth.That is not to say that there hasn’t been progression in policies and services; administrations across Europe have put systems in place intended to result in the inclusion of young LGBTQI+ people. However, this does not account for all administration.
There is still rampant pushback on progress with the introduction and revision of policies and legislation which seeks to keep LGBTQI+ people excluded and in the dark; resulting in the queer community having to grow up and deal with discrimination on their own. The Proud Spaces project focuses on establishing an evidence-based model of best practices for both youth workers and service providers working with LGBTQI+ young people in Ireland and across Europe. The release of this booklet marks the first steps in addressing and challenging these issues by highlighting the work carried out by organisations and practitioners in supporting young LGBTQI+ people to have their voices heard and to be included equally among their peers and realise their true potential. The publication demonstrates how Youth Work Ireland in partnership with the European network ECYC and Polish non-profit GrowSpace carried out this extensive review of the youth work practices, processes and activities, highlighting the positive outcomes it achieves for both youth workers and young people. Working side by side, the goal of both youth workers and young people within this project is to equip young LGBTQI+ people with skills such as peer leadership, community building, and much more in order to empower them to take ownership of their spaces.
Establishing these supports allows for attitudes to change; increasing the feeling of not only safety but an air of confidence for LGBTQI+ young people. Proud Spaces aims to continue highlighting the significance of youth work and the role it plays in addressing and challenging these exclusive barriers that young LGBTQI+ people face on a day-to-day basis. By amplifying values such as empowerment, shared learning, policy engagement, inclusion and participation in youth work, the benefits can be rightfully appreciated for LGBTQI+ youth and all young people across Europe. The nature of this project coupled with the work around raising awareness on the implementation of effective models and strategies that support human rights can further the work in progressing the shared values within Europe around inclusion and diversity.
This also requires the need for awareness around the history and identities, organisations and supports available in order to aid the attitudes around the possibilities of change. In order to aid youth workers and youth groups in establishing their proud space, a workshop was designed to provide an opportunity for a youth-led activity asking the main question of what a proud space is to young people and what the service can do to make their space more inclusive for LGBTQI+ young people. Out of the 10+ youth services that took part in establishing best practice in LGBTQI+ youth work, it was found that the main points in overcoming the barriers of homophobia/transphobia and overall fears of being outed were providing access to one-on-one meetings in order to ease anxiety before joining a group and providing general support around areas such as referrals to other services, access to transport, and consent forms to these services without the mention of LGBTQI+ groups. Other supports include the representation of the LGBTQI+ community within their space (such as pride flags and posters of similar resources), having an understanding of LGBTQI+ issues and celebrating diversity within their space without fear of judgement.
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