Birmingham LGBT has opened a swanky purpose-built centre in the city’s Gay Village after 12 years at the organisation’s previous home in Holloway Circus. We caught up with Birmingham LGBT chair Steve Ball, who also appears to be Brum’s biggest champion
Opened by former Poet Laureate, Jasmine Gardosi and actor Annie Wallace, the new Birmingham LGBT centre represents a huge boost to LGBTQ+ support in the city and includes enough space for services to grow further. Steve Ball was involved in the previous incarnation of Birmingham LGBT which was called Birmingham Pride Community Trust.
Twenty years ago it was the organisation behind Gay Pride and the name suggested it was merely about a weekend of celebration when it was much more than that. Steve says: “Not all LGBTQ+ people go to Pride. It’s a more general organisation with support for all.” And so, Birmingham LGBT was born.
Birmingham LGBT is a registered charity and opened the country’s first LGBTQ+ Health & Wellbeing Centre in 2013. It’s grown from a team of two to 26 and the services delivered are wide ranging including sexual health testing, counselling, domestic abuse support, youth work, outreach and peer groups, as well as Shout, the organisation’s arts and culture programme. In the last 12 months the organisation has delivered more than 3,500 brief interventions, 1,770 specific interventions, roughly 750 HIV point of care tests, 1,100 self sampled STI tests, 380 substance support sessions and supported over 160 domestic abuse survivors.
COMMUNITY HUB
The centre has been delivered through Outpost Management’s joint venture with BlackRock Real Estate, in partnership with the Galliard Apsley Partnership, and forms part of Outpost’s Lower Essex Street development and will enable increased support services and community space for more people. Steve says, “It’s in the heart of the gay village. It’s accessible and provides a great base for services. There’s a large community hub where people can connect.”
The breadth of community groups is incredible including the gay film society and the Golden Babs over 55s among many others. Funding tends to be in the form of project grants. The sexual health element is funded by the NHS while domestic abuse services are funded by Birmingham City Council, and the rest takes on a project-based piecemeal approach.
While the grass roots community is thriving, the venues are being squeezed like the rest of the hospitality sector. Steve says: “Forty per cent of 18 to 25-year-olds don’t drink which has an impact on the night-time economy, so the queer scene in the gay village has its challenges.” Trying to encourage the community to use venues and working with Southside BID to support them is key.
BIG UP BRUM
Steve is also chair of Southside District Board and as such, is a big champion of the city and the wider region. He’s been in Birmingham for 40 years and as an honorary Brummie he’s keen to espouse the positives of the city and dispel some of the negative myths. First up, is that the city is broke. “There’s a massive perception that it’s bankrupt. The city is thriving. Birmingham City Council has a significant deficit – it’s not the same thing as the city being bankrupt.”
Of the magical fortnight of the Commonwealth Games, Steve says: “Council leader Ian Ward said that the Games was the start of a golden decade for Birmingham. We need to start marketing and advocating for ourselves. Get the chip off the shoulder. We’re a young, diverse city and there’s so much positive energy.”
He adds: “Our cultural offer is fantastic. We’ve three large theatres as well as some smaller ones. We’ve got the best concert hall in Europe and the best collection of pre-Raphaelites in the world at BMAG. Digbeth continues to be on the up – Steven Knight studios are a good example – plus our sports offer is also fantastic.” We couldn’t agree more.