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LGBTQI+ youth service offer
LGBTQI+ History Month Events 2024
February marks the beginning of LGBTQI+ History Month, a time to celebrate and learn about LGBTQI+ history.
Whether you are an LGBTQI+ young person or ally aged 11 to 19, there are so many great events to get involved in.
Check out our full programme of events in the borough:
Lonely Heart Mart 2024
50+ Stalls ran by Queer artists, business owners and creatives.
Date: Saturday 3rd February
Location: London Queer Mart, Music Rooms, 116 - 118 New Cross Rd, SE14 5BA, £1 to enter
Muay Thai
Join the 'Bender Defenders' for their weekly Maury Thai sessions where you can have fun learning strikes, movements and defences. This is a playful environment where queer and trans people come to train, make friends, have fun, and explore their own strength.
Date: Saturdays from 3 February
Location: St Margaret's House in Bethnal Green
Queer East London Fest
Join for short films, panel discussions, stalls, workshops, games, creative activities
22 February, 6 to 9pm
Positive East, 159 Mile End Rd, E1 4AQ
Imagining Queer Pasts and Futures
At this free event, you are invited to an evening of writing and discussion, where you will explore photos, records and memories of the LGBTQ+ community in Tower Hamlets.
Date: Thursday 15 Feb
Location: Tower Hamlets Archives
Rich Mix free exhibition – Archiving desires
Archiving desires explores how queer people sought connection in pre-digital times and how queer people today engage with material from the past.
Dates: 28 Jan – 25 Feb
Location: Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green road, E1 6LA
The Common Press events
This amazing bookstore is holding a range of fantastic events through February, including Brick Lane Jazz Festival, Yoga sessions, Queer writing circle, Tarot Card Readings, dance classes and so much more
Location: The Common Press Bookshop, 118 Bethnal Green Road, London, E2 6DG
LGBTQI+ V&A tour
Join our V&A Volunteer Guides to explore gender and sexual identities through a selection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer plus objects in the V&A’s rich and surprising collections.
Date: Last Saturday of the month.
Location: V&A, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 2RL
Support and advice for LGBTQI+ Young People
Step Forward have been working in Tower Hamlets for more than 30 years offering LGBTQI+ young people support and counselling services.
Step Forward continues to offer this support to all our young people.
Step Forward is open when our clients are more likely to be free. For more information about their opening times, please contact the team for a confidential chat on: 020 7739 3082 or 07961 201 234 and info@step-forward.org
Shaping your youth service
Young Tower Hamlets held a second series of ‘Hackathon’ events in November and December 2023 for LGBQTI+ young people, SEND young people up to the age of 25 and Somali boys and girls.
The sessions were co-produced with young people and featured activities designed to stimulate discussion, generate ideas, and provide young people with an opportunity to contribute their vision for the youth service in a fun and engaging way.
Activities during the LGBTQI+ session included:
- Debate game: To break the ice, the sessions started with a ‘debate’ game, where young people could respond to discussion topics that they agreed or disagreed with. This game enabled young people to start talking and sharing ideas to create a fun and engaging atmosphere.
- Identifying needs and wants: Young people identified issues that matter to them and gave their views on opportunities and activities that would most meet their needs.
- Presenting their perfect youth service: Once young people had discussed their wants and needs, they were then challenged to design their dream youth service. In small groups they used creative methods to design and present their visual representations of an amazing future youth service.
Thank you to all of those who got involved in this LGBTQI+ Hackathon event. All the feedback from this session will be used to shape the Young Tower Hamlets youth service moving forward.