Yorkshire-based charity, Out Together, has announced a partnership with Hollywood star Jonathan Bailey and his organisation, The Shameless Fund. The partnership is helping raise awareness of the vital role of intergenerational LGBTQ+ communities and ensuring people most at risk of becoming isolated in the LGBTQ+ community are getting the support they need.

The two organisations are partnering based on their shared missions to break down barriers, bring people together, and build an empowered, visible, and connected LGBTQ+ community spanning generations and regions.

Sharing why he chose to partner with Out Together, Actor and Founder of The Shameless Fund, Jonathan Bailey commented: “All of us at The Shameless Fund are so excited to be naming Out Together as one of our founding partners. We love the joy they bring to their community, and we’re so proud to be able to honour the dedication of people who’ve paved the way for my generation to be out and proud.

“We’re delighted to be contributing to this milestone of Out Together recruiting permanent staff, and I encourage you all to dig deep to allow them to plan long into the future”.

Out Together charity was founded in 2020 to initially support older LGBTQ+ people. As the charity has grown, it has welcomed members from all generations and is making strides in tackling barriers that people in the LGBTQ+ community face.

The charity also provides services aimed at supporting LGBTQ+ people who are most at risk of becoming isolated, aiming to help them find the right support before becoming completely isolated. This work is commonly still focused on reaching older generations of LGBTQ+ people and those living in rural areas, who are most at risk of social isolation and related negative impacts on their overall wellbeing – which is often due to a combination of several factors, including past trauma from growing up in a period where being LGBTQ+ was heavily stigmatised and lack of visibility and support of LGBTQ+ people in local communities for older generations and in rural areas.

Discussing what the partnership means for the charity, Chair of Out Together, Thomas Porteus, commented: “We are very excited about our partnership with The Shameless Fund and proud to be chosen as one of the organisation’s founding partners.

“Our partnership and the extremely generous funding provided have really supported the resilience of the charity over the last year, enabling us to expand our work, not only in providing support services to people directly through our local hubs, but in actively making positive changes for current and future generations through amplifying LGBTQ+ voices and visibility across the UK to build intergenerational solidarity.

“We’re also building workplace initiatives to challenge shame, stigma and oppression in work environments, to support real change in allowing current and future generations to be able to live freely and show up in all areas of their lives as their authentic selves.

“We’ve also been able to take on more staff and progress in expanding our in-person and digital resources, allowing us to move towards supporting people nationally who are most in need of staying connected”.

The charity is on a mission to help people of all ages in the LGBTQ+ community to live more confidently and openly through inclusive, accessible support services. They hope the partnership with Jonathan Bailey and The Shameless Fund will also allow the charity to connect with more people from younger generations, as allies, volunteers and potential future members.

Jonathan Bailey and The Shameless Fund team are raising funds through global brand collaborations to support global, national, and grassroots non-profits that help build a world where every LGBTQ+ person can live and love freely and thrive as their authentic selves without the burdens of discrimination, oppression, or shame.

Out Together is proud to be one of only four UK-based founding partner charities that The Shameless Fund carefully selected to support, and hopes that the national and international platform the organisation has will help the charity achieve its ambitious plans to expand its reach far beyond Yorkshire.

Notes: 

For more information visit Out Together – https://outtogether.lgbt/ and The Shameless Fund – https://theshamelessfund.org/

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