Groups

LGBT Youth Scotland groups are there to connect young people with each other, provide opportunities for you to make friends and have fun with other people your own age.  They are also there to make sure that there is somewhere you can go for support and advice from trained youth work staff.  We all need to talk things through sometimes, and at our groups you will have the opportunity to chat to youth workers informally as well as make an appointment to have a longer chat if you would like. 

Although our groups are for LGBT young people, many people come along with their friends who may identify as straight.  We welcome straight young people into our groups who come along to support their friends.

If you want to come along to a group, the first thing to do is check out the info on their page, which will tell you if the group is a drop in (that means you can just turn up on the night) or if you need to make an informal appointment with a youth worker just before the group.

The groups are all different but one thing stays the same – the young people decide what happens at the groups!  Youth workers will work with the young people to help plan a programme, this is usually done every 3-4 months for groups meeting weekly and every 6 months for groups meeting monthly.  At the groups the activities cover loads of things, but to give you an idea here are some general topics:

Fun and games 
Issue based workshops and games
LGBT history and celebration
Getting creative

In fun and games you will have the chance to take part in silly games, treasure hunts, ice breakers, energising games and problem solving games.  Most of these games are delivered to small groups so you will get to work with friends and just have a good time.

Issues based workshops can be about anything and everything.  Usually it is something that young people have said they want to know more about.  You can expect subjects like sexual health, alcohol awareness, relationships and school and bullying.

LGBT history and celebration focuses on key dates in the pink calendar (dates that are really important to the LGBT community!), including International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), Pride, World Aids Day (WAD) and National Coming Out Day.

But, it’s not all workshops and games, the groups also give you the chance to take part in creative projects like film making, arts and crafts, song writing and drag shows to name a few!

Scotland may feel really small but in fact it’s a BIG place with lots of diverse areas and regions.  We work in as many areas as possible, however we haven’t managed to get groups going in every area just yet (we’re working on it!).  At the moment, we have groups in these areas listed below.  In the bigger cities our groups may be divided into different age groups or genders, click on the group for more detailed info about times, days and venue.

Dumfries
Dundee
Edinburgh and Lothians
Fife
Galashiels
Glasgow
Perth
Stirling
Stranraer