A Brief History of the Forum

Camden LGBT Forum is a registered charity which was set up in as a community organisation in 2002 to increase the visibility and voice of LGBT people in the borough. It is estimated that between 10 and 12% of people living in the borough will be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender and visitors to Camden's gay venues swell this number. The Forum aims to advocate to ensure their specific needs are met with regard to community safety and service provision in the borough.

The first meeting of the Camden LGBT Forum Action Group was in January 2002. The remit was clear: to create a forum that would provide an official channel of communication and influence between the LGBT community in Camden, organisations responsible for ensuring community safety and advising on specific community safety needs. Local business, statutory and voluntary organisations and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in Camden were invited to attend these planning meetings and to work toward the development and launch of a community based forum.

The launch was held on 17th September 2002 and the first full forum meeting was held in October at The King William Public House in Hampstead; an overall strategy for the forum was decided on and a Management Committee elected to steer and organise the forum.

Since then, the forum has held monthly meetings, open to all, which now take place at Camden Town Hall. The Forum meetings are the real heart of the organisation, making policy decisions and debating responses to the demands made on our services.

Camden LGBT Forum currently employs two full-time staff who work from our offices in Covent Garden: a Project Director and an Administrator/Outreach Coordinator. Members of the Management Committee assist by attending meetings on behalf of the Forum and taking on client cases according to their area of knowledge. The Management Committee meets monthly.

The Forum has worked on a variety of projects since its inception in including community safety schemes, support for LGBT victims of crime and harassment, social and outreach events, domestic violence and housing support. We work on a strategic level with service providers including the Metropolitan Police and Camden Council, and provide input on LGBT issues for bodies including the London Criminal Justice Board and the Probation Service.

During the lifetime of the Forum, the judicial disposal rate for homophobic/transphobic crime has doubled in the borough.

We provide training programmes for public sector workers to raise awareness of LGBT issues and ensure frontline staff understand the specific needs of people from LGBT communities when dealing with them.

Since its inception, kep areas of work for the Forum have included:

• Under reporting of Hate crime
• Increasing safety on Hampstead Health, and cruising in Camden
• LGBT Domestic violence
• Reporting crimes without using the police
• Housing problems, including harassment from neighbours

If you think we should be doing other things for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people then get in touch and help us to do something about it. You can read about our past projects in this section, and peruse the minutes of our meetings which may help you get a clearer idea of what we do. If you want more information then contact us and we’ll try and help you out.