A NEW local group for Melksham’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT+) community has been set up, offering support, friendship, advice and information.
‘Proud Melksham’ has been launched to coincide with ‘Pride Month’ – the annual celebration of the LGBT+ community that is recognised across the world, with many cities hosting pride events.
And whilst the group is currently based online, there are plans to eventually organise social meetings, with ambitious plans to one day host Melksham’s first pride event.
Behind the new group is local resident Ryan Clarke, who grew up in Melksham – an experience he says was “incredibly hard” – who is determined to help the local LGBT+ community “have a voice”.
And with some negative comments received online in response to the launch of the group, Ryan says this has highlighted why “positively promoting” the community through ‘Proud Melksham’ is “so important”.
Explaining why he created ‘Proud Melksham’, Ryan told Melksham News, “Here in Melksham we are a small community. Growing up gay here is incredibly hard, there was no support network, no help, schools didn’t understand. You really felt alone and with no-one to turn to. That doesn’t get easier as you get older.
“Other towns around – Trowbridge and Swindon – have a ‘Pride’, I didn’t know if that was necessarily what I wanted to go for, and came up with Proud Melksham.
“What I wanted was a range of things – I wanted a website where people could go to seek help and advice, from ‘coming out, to how to access sexual health services and mental health charities.
“And I also wanted to promote LGBT+ issues to Melksham, via a Facebook page, Twitter and Instagram.
“In addition, there is a Facebook group, meant as a social space for those in the community and our allies to come together, to seek advice, to make friends.
“There are many LGBT+ people in Melksham, young and old, there are parents wanting to learn more to support their children, gay parents looking to make friends with others, so many different aspects.
“What I wanted to do was help bring them together and support them.
“The aim is to be able to hold some meet-ups, helping people make friends, coffee mornings, day trips, etc. Hopefully by next year we will be able to hold our own Pride Day, which would be fantastic!
“So many LGBT+ people feel alone, feel they don’t fit in. In a town like Melksham you can’t hold the hand of who you love, or kiss them in the street.
“The launch of Proud Melksham and the negative comments on the Facebook page, ‘Sham Shout Outs’, showed us that many people still struggle to accept us for who we are. That’s part of why positively promoting our community is so important.”
To find out more about Proud Melksham, visit the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ProudMelksham
Or follow the group on Instagram: @ProudMelksham; and Twitter: @ProudMelksham
