It can be hard talking about your feelings to your closest friends and family if you think you might be gay, bisexual or a lesbian, are questioning your sexuality or are trans or non-binary.

‘Coming out’ means telling someone about your sexual orientation or gender identity. This can be a difficult thing to do and it can take some time to get to a point where you feel comfortable and confident enough to have those conversations with people.

Get advice about coming out from the Be You project.

Staying safe

Attitudes have changed, but unfortunately members of the LGBTQIA+ community are still bullied and victimised which can make it hard to express who you are.

Get advice on staying safe from the Be You project 

Get support

You can get support:

• from LGBTQIA+ support groups such as metro-stand-out
• by getting counselling in person (speak to your GP about this)
• by getting counselling online from online platforms like Kooth
• by talking to a friend or someone you trust

Online support

There are lots of resources online that can help you understand what you’re feeling – and offer advice for you and the important people in your life.

You can get online support from:

Young Stonewall – you can get helpful advice and information or you can call Stonewall on 08000 50 20 20 if you need to talk to someone

The Proud Trust - a charity who support LGBTQIA+ youth and offer help and advice

RUComingOut - sharing coming out stories from LGBTQIA+ people around the world. Some are good, some are bad – but they’re all told by people who are now happily out and proud to be themselves

BeYou project – with guides designed to help you understand what you’re feeling, and practical advice about decisions or changes you might be getting ready to make in your life

Download our LGBTQIA advice booklet

Training

We offer a free e-learning course for Medway professionals, on Me Learning, called 'LGBTQ+ Awareness.' 

To complete the training please login to your Me Learning account or create a Me Learning account instead.