Gaga ‘persuades Wills to head up gay charity’
THE Duke of Cambridge is giving his support to a charity that helps homeless LGBT youngsters after Lady Gaga recommended that he get involved.
Prince William will this week meet representatives from The Albert Kennedy Trust (Akt), who hope he will become its patron.
The pair first teamed up together after William read an open letter by Lady Gaga about living with post-traumatic stress disorder. The pair then collaborated on a project for Heads Together, a mental health initiative spearheaded by The Royal Foundation, in 2017.
A source said: ‘They met during the campaign and they’ve kept in touch. Lady Gaga encouraged him to get involved with Akt as she has previously done work with them.
‘The stories she shared with him inspired him to lend a hand.’
The charity was founded in 1989 by Cath Hall, a foster carer, who named it after a 16-year-old boy who fell to his death from a Manchester car park after being chased by a gang. Albert, who was gay, had run away from a children’s home in Salford and had suffered appalling homophobia.
Ms Hall described establishing the trust – which has several highprofile patrons including Sir Ian McKellen – as ‘an emotional response, an angry response, to what was going on’.
The charity runs an online support service and has centres in London and the North West and North East of England, which provide homes, mentoring and training for gay youngsters. In 2017, it provided 6,075 nights of safe accommodation across the UK.
It is not the first time that the 37-year-old Prince has become involved in LGBT issues. Three years ago, he appeared on the cover of the gay magazine Attitude, and used an interview to highlight homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying and the resulting effects on people’s mental health.
‘The stories she shared have inspired him’
WAVING rainbow banners and balloons, thousands of people took part in Edinburgh Pride yesterday to mark the 50th anniversary of a key moment in gay rights history.
The Stonewall riots of 1969 in New York, an uprising by the gay community, changed the movement in the US and beyond.
Marchers at this year’s annual parade in the capital took the theme ‘This Is Me’ as their inspiration.
The crowd gathered first outside the Scottish parliament, to hear speeches from campaigners and MSPs including the Lib Dems’ Alex Cole-Hamilton.
He said: ‘People ask me, “Why do you still come to Pride, why does Pride still need to happen? We’ve got gay equality rights, we’ve got marriage equality?”.
‘Pride matters because we still have frontiers to push back on, not just in terms of trans equality, but so many ranges.’
The sun shone as the colourful march streamed up the Royal Mile, turning on to George IV Bridge before finishing at the Edinburgh University Students’ Association campus at Bristo Square.
Entertainment included family events, ceilidh dancing and a main stage headlined by singer Tulisa.
Green traffic signals along the parade route were temporarily replaced with designs created to represent lesbian, gay, trans and straight relationships.
Celebrations in the capital had officially begun on Friday with a special 5k run.
Pride Edinburgh spokesman Jamie Love said: ‘We’re so excited. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, which really reinstates the history and meaning of Pride.’