.gay Community Spotlight on the LGBT National Help Center

Jul 11

Today, we are shining a light on the LGBT National Help Center, whose mission is to provide a safe space for individuals who are seeking support, acceptance, and resources related to gender and sexuality.

The center runs multiple hotlines staffed by highly trained peer-support volunteers who offer a listening ear to those who need it most. Additionally, the center maintains an extensive database of LGBTQ+ resources to help connect individuals with their local community.

Take a closer look at how the LGBT National Help Center brings their mission to life in our interview below.

How would you describe your organization’s mission

Our mission is to provide a safe space for those in the LGBTQIA+ community and for us a safe space can be a place where a caller can find support, acceptance, affirmation, respect and feel comfortable finding resources to aid in their journey.

We run multiple peer-support hotlines where individuals can talk one-on-one with a highly trained peer-support volunteer to discuss issues or concerns they may be having on gender and/or sexuality, discrimination, bullying, isolation, relationships, mental health and much more. We also can provide vital community connections to the community through our extensive LGBTQIA+ database of resources, so if a person wishes to continue to connect with the community they can.

Tell us about how that mission is brought to life through your work?

Every day we get calls, chats and emails from people from all over the United States, Canada, and internationally who are seeking a place where they can discuss unhindered, their feelings, their fears, and their hopes for the future. Our mission is brought to life by our dedicated volunteers who make time each week to offer that support, always free and always anonymously.

What would happen if your organization suddenly did not exist?

Countless individuals would no longer have a place to go to find the support they desperately need to have in their lives. Our support offer tools to those in need to prevent crisis. Without our programs many people would continue to feel isolated and alone. Those who feel hopeless may feel there is no hope going forward and begin to consider suicide or ways to harm themselves. Additionally countless organizations that rely on our database would suddenly not be able to provide aid to their clients.

What can people do to get involved and help make sure that never happens?

The simplest thing a person can do it to spread the word on what we do and what we offer. There still exists a stigma of asking for help, and any way we can help each other find means of support aids us and aids our mission. Those who can volunteer, consider helping out, it could be helping with resource updating, answering phone calls or moderating our youth chatrooms, we mainly are able to function because of our amazing volunteers. For those who can afford it, DONATE. We keep our overhead low, but each call and all our programs cost money, so if you can offer financial support, that can help ensure that we are able to continue to provide free and anonymous support.

Why does LGBTQ+ visibility matter to you?

As a community we are only as strong as our weakest member. And there are still so many in our community who fear being found out, fear being seen. It is up to those of us who are able to be visible to lead the way. Visibility can allow those come behind us to be able to have it slightly easier. Visibility normalizes us to those who may not understand the LGBTQIA+ community and allow them a way to learn and become accepting and supportive. Visibility is a way for community to find each other and to grow stronger. Because those who oppose our existence, just being seen; being heard is an act of bravery. Visibility can offer a sense of pride and a sense of strength for us all.

In your own words, what does “LGBTQ+ safety and support” mean specifically?

There isn’t one overall meaning for me because each person and different aspects of our community is different. Support comes from one another to life each other up. Support is institutions and society offering a hand up to those who have traditionally not received it. Support can be creating space that is vital for a community to thrive. Safety can be ensuring that support exists. It can be de-escalating dangerous situations. Safety can be giving a person a chance to breathe, to re-evaluate and explore their own feelings or emotions.

Safety and support can go hand in hand. Personal safety, community safety, how can we protect and support each other

Who are some of your LGBTQ+ heroes?

Jack Petocz, leading the statewide walk out in Florida. Cameron Samuels, fighting book bans in Texas. Kari Barclay, asexual playwright and activist. Barbara Gittings, NYC chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis.

If you could give LGBTQ+ youth one message, what would it be?

Be there for each other. There may be those who want to tear you down, so find our community. Support each other, lift each other up. You are stronger and braver than you were told, and your generation has the ability to make changes that those who came before you can’t even imagine.

Tell us about a time when you felt like the work you do at your organization really mattered or made a difference for the communities you serve?

That’s a hard one since I know that the work we do matters every day. But recently I was tabling at a Pride event and a woman came up and told me about the time decades ago that she had called the hotline. It was a night that she still remembers because it was the night she was thinking of hurting herself. But what she did was called the LGBT National Talkline and heard a kind voice. They talked, and she told the volunteer about how she would never be able to tell anyone she’s a lesbian. The caller told her, ‘you just did’ and the she had laughed and realized she had.

She felt she was never going to be able to be herself, find the love she craved or find acceptance. She was thinking of ending it all, but after that call gathered herself and started to move forward. It was a rocky road, but she made it and she introduced me to her two kids and her loving wife. She did all the hard lifting, she fought for the love she deserved, but in our way we gave her the support she needed and the kind voice she craved to hear and helped her move forward.

Anything else you would like to share with the .gay audience?

It can be a scary world, one where you might feel alone. Know that there are dedicated volunteers here ready to offer support, help find resources, and be a calm port in the storm. You may not need our support, but if you know someone who does, please let them know. We are all here for each other to lift one another up.

LGBT National Help Center Resources: