The Listen Up! Report highlights the emerging trends within the callers and volunteers at the vital service
BY EMILY O’MULLANE, IMAGE BY SAMUEL BORGES
There was a 79% increase in LGBTQIA support line calls in the week after Brianna Ghey’s death, says charity Switchboard in a new report.
Switchboard, the national LGBT support line, has published its Listen Up Report containing information about the conversations they had with users in 2023.
The charity, which is marking its 50th year anniversary in 2024, has served as a resource and a safe space for LGBTQIA individuals to discuss topics such as gender identity and sexuality or any other issues that are worrying them. Since launching in 1974, the charity has reached over four million people in need. The information from the 2023 report comes from confidential logging of conversations over the phone and text.
This year, Switchboard increased its output by 13%, handling almost 15,000 conversations. This is due to improved volunteer recruitment and the relaunch of the email service as well as the introduction of a free phone service. They also had five volunteers featured on RuPaul’s Drag Race which expanded their support nationally.
Mental health continues to be a focus of conversations, especially among those under 24. 32% of conversations about mental health came from people in this age category.
Another increasing trend among those seeking support from Switchboard is the theme of gender identity in conversations. In 2023, 46% of switchboard users identified themselves as a different gender from the one they were assigned at birth. This is an increase from 43% in 2022 and 33% in 2021. They noted a large spike in calls about trans issues surrounding the period following the murder of Brianna Ghey and Rishi Sunak’s anti-trans comments.
The topic of gender appeared in 25% of all conversations and featured in the top five most popular themes in these chats. The others were relationships (42%), sexuality (39%), coming out (25%) and mental health (25%).
Switchboard’s volunteers are just as diverse as their users and since 2022 they have been working to diversify their volunteer base. 52% of current volunteers identify as gay or lesbian and compared to 2022, and there has been an 8.4% increase in volunteers who don’t identify as White British.
To read the full report, go to switchboard.lgbt/news/listen-up-2023
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