What is it like to be a young lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning (LGBTQ) young person in England today? That is the focus for Youth Chances - a groundbreaking new study led by METRO in partnership with the University of Greenwich and Ergo Consulting and funded by the Big Lottery Fund.
METRO set up Youth Chances because there is little reliable data currently available about LGBT people generally and young LGBTQ people specifically, because as a recent survey by Populus shows, young LGBTQ people still face discrimination and challenges because of their sexuality and identity and they could be much better supported and because things needs to change.
The Youth Chances survey of 15,000 16-25 year old LGBTQ young people across England is now LIVE. It is available to complete on the Youth Chances website. The survey covers areas such as local community, education, employment, experiences of crime and health. The survey can be filled out anonymously, takes about 20 minutes and each person who completes it will be entered into a prize draw to win £500.
The Youth Chances team has also been out on the road collecting survey responses via ipads. Next stops on our road trip include World Pride on 7th July in London, LFest in Shropshire on July 15th, Leeds Pride on August 5th and METRO's very own Annual Drag Race in Greenwich on August 18th.
Dan Baker, National Youth Chances Project Co-ordinator said:
Youth Chances allows us all to understand directly from young people themselves about the challenges they face. We are appealing to all LGBTQ young people to help us with this project to ensure that we get a good representative balance and that your voices are heard. The Youth Chances team will be out and about over the summer across the country at various LGBTQ events in our red gazebo offering out wrist-bands, badges and other goodies- please come and see us!