LGYM / Out Youth Dublin

LGYM, is a Youth Organisation that supports young gay and lesbian people. The opportunity to develop links with a similar organisation in Ireland was one that Causeway was keen to fund.. Causeway hopes that other such programmes will be developed as the programme was of particular benefit for the young people at Out Youth Dublin, since young gay and lesbian people in Ireland suffer from a much higher level of homophobia than their English counterparts.

Thematically, the programme was designed to explore cultural issues and to use art and leisure as the canvas to develop team building and personal confidence. As the young people were mostly in their late teens, early twenties, they were intrinsically involved in the organisation of the programme. The democratic nature of their planning process also gave them the chance to develop concepts of team-work and notions of behavioural issues within the context of the group.

Whilst the strongly religious nature of Irish society confirmed the suspicions that the English young people held, it did give them the chance to discuss with their Irish peers the different means by which the Irish (and English) dealt with such antagonism. A culture of support was successfully established.

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