This month we are proud to be supporting the Football v Homophobia national awareness campaign, through the February Month of Action.

Football brings people together in a multitude of ways, and we are committed to playing our part in football, in our community, and as an organisation, to ensure an inclusive environment for all.

Supplementing the goal to increase visibility of members of the LGBTQIA+ community at the club, we are also looking to better engage members in understanding the importance of this, specifically in relation to mental health. We have listened to feedback and are constantly looking to improve the support we offer – this year the leaflets from FvH will help to provide further information on the importance of the campaign, support available and key facts.

A recent study by Stonewall found that over the previous year:

• half of LGBTQIA+ people had experienced depression and three in five had experienced anxiety
• one in eight LGBTQIA+ people aged 18-24 had attempted to end their life
• almost half of trans people had thought about taking their life.

(Source)

Following a successful Rainbow Laces project run in partnership with Stonewall in December, this initiative is another being run by the club’s safeguarding team.

This year we will support awareness for FvH through the use of warm-up shirts, information leaflets, posters and rainbow footballs. These resources help to provide a more open-medium to communicate and raise awareness over the inclusion of LGBTQIA+ people in football, sport, and society more generally. Resources have also be utilised to support the National HIV Testing week.

A huge thanks to both the Men and Women first team squads for pledging their support!