Jackie Briggs sadly passed away on 5th October 2024 after a period of illness. Everyone at FTL is so grateful for all of Jackie’s energy, time and contributions over the many years she was involved in the organisation. Many members of FTL, past and present, came to remember and celebrate her life at her funeral on 1st November. At the funeral Mary Thomas gave the following tribute.
Read MoreOn a very cold Saturday on the 2nd December we held our special lunch for our families and friends. We entertained about 35 people and it was such a joyous occasion. It was a special way to start the month of December off with laughter and warmth.
Read MoreI was welcomed by this lovely group of students and their teacher Adam. I was able to tell them all about myself and my family and also how Families Together London works. After my talk and some questions from the group I sat in on the tutorial which Adam gave on homophobia. It was a delightful afternoon.
Read MoreLast Saturday Jackie and I attend the 30th Anniversary of FFLAG (Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). Following a really early start to the day, we trained up to Birmingham to meet with the FFLAG trustees and co-ordinators for a day of talks, workshops and brainstorming. Sarah Furley, their current chair kicked the event off with a warm welcome, and shared a congratulatory video message from Peter Tatchell. This was followed by talk given by one of their patrons, Bobbi Pickard, who is CEO of Trans in the City, and was the first openly transgender woman in BP.
Read MoreHenry Hudson, the Founder of People Change Minds, came to give us a talk. The meeting was very well attended and Henry created an interactive meeting which was great fun as we all participated in exercises which opened up lots of questions for the Q and A session. Attending the same meeting was the clinic psychologist Emma Fitzgerald. It’s really gratifying that organisations such as hers have heard of FTL and want to dip into our organisation and how we operate.
Read MoreIt took a while to organise a date but this September Gill, David and myself went to Bank of America in The City to speak about Families Together London and ofcourse, as we always do, tell our own stories about having LGBT+ children.
Read MoreIt was well worth the wait to hear Natalie Gamble speak at our September Zoom meeting. Below is a synopsis of Natalie’s career to date. It was so inspiring to hear how passionate she is about the law as it stands at the moment relating to becoming parents when you are LGBT+ and also how to proceed down that rocky road, navigating the best way for our children to have children of their own.
Read MoreLaura has given very helpful talks to us in the past so we were delighted to meet her again, with her colleague, Michael Beattie, following the recent publication of a much needed, practical and well researched book - “Gender Affirming Therapy - a guide to what transgender and non-binary clients can teach us” which they co-authored with LGBTQ+ counsellor and peer support worker, Skye Davies. Three of us parent members of FTL-Thad contributed thoughts that the authors included in the chapter “What about the parents?”
Read MoreI think you’ll agree that this is a mighty fine picture. This year we were allocated 80 wristbands and all of these were taken up. The weather on the 1st July was just perfect for a parade and we all gathered at a delightful cafe in Seymour Place.
Read MoreThursday, 23rd June was a very exciting day for us at FTL. Prior to the pandemic Kearney had got in touch with us with a view to holding a session at their offices in collaboration with their PROUD network. Timothy Mallinson who is an Associate of this management consultancy business has been working hard to put this together and at last the day arrived. Alongside me were my colleagues on the Steering Committee of FTL who run the FTL-T section.
Read MoreWe at FTL were contacted earlier this year by Devyani Mahajan who works in the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion sector of the British Medical Journal organisation. She wanted to see whether we would be part of a panel and the talk would be Zoomed to members of the organisation. I was very happy to participate.
Read MoreOn the afternoon of the 31st May I was invited, along with my lovely Pets as Therapy dog Coby to give a little talk to the young persons who had gathered at their meeting place for an afternoon of chat, cups of tea and nibbles. Lukasz Konieczka, who I have known for about 15 years, has created the most amazing safe space for these young people to gather.
Read MoreOn the 20th February we were delighted to welcome at our Battersea venue Jake Kelly (he/him} from Gendered Intelligence (GI). Jake is the Head of Youth and Families Services at GI.
Read MoreWe at Families Together London were so proud to have been contacted by the NSPCC. They held an open discussion and invited us to give a general talk about what we at FTL do, how we came about, what changes have happened within the LGBT community over the last number of years and how things are moving forward in that community.
Read MoreIt is always uplifting to have a major company get in touch with Families Together London and ask whether we would be happy to co-host a webinar. Close Brothers, the merchant bankers in the City of London, did just that and I was delighted to participate in this open forum.
Read MoreHenry is an LGBTQ+ Inclusion Speaker and Trainer at People Change Minds. He works with teachers and pupils in secondary schools to create an inclusive environment.
Read MoreWe were delighted to welcome Lukasz Konieczka, the Executive Director of Mosaic LGBT+ Young Persons’ Trust. Lukasz who is a trained psychologist, social worker and youth worker talked to us about his personal coming out story back in Poland and how Mosaic contributes to the future generation of the LGBT+ community.
Read MoreEmma Goswell, the writer and broadcaster, has been interviewing parents who have LGBT children for her series of Coming Out Stories. I hope you find the interview I did with Emma both interesting and uplifting.
Read MoreQuite recently I was interviewed by River Radio’s Emma Jane Taylor alongside Lorna Mcardle and Helen Garlick. Since that interview Helen asked whether I would participate in her YouTube series “Hello! It’s better to talk”.
Read MoreWe were delighted when PwC approached us to take part in this specific session to do with parenting LGBTQ+ children. I can say on behalf of FTL that we were very grateful that a company which is so supportive of their employees was able to approach us for this project.
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