Through our campaigning, we ensure policy formation and practice is informed by the voice and experiences of LGBTQ+ young people and help individuals understand what life is like for LGBTQ+ youth today.
#ItsOurSocialMedia
Online platforms are places we can connect, express, learn and explore. But with tech giants rolling back on moderating content and loosening restrictions on what content is permitted, these spaces need to be regulated and moderated.
There’s a lot of hate online, and it’s becoming more hostile. So what can we do about it? At Belong To, we’re holding social media platforms to account, calling on them to make our social media what we want it to be and calling for politicians to hold them to account through regulation.
While the responsibility ultimately lies with the platforms themselves, we can also mind ourselves by sharing more of the type of content we do want to see – and block the content we don’t.
Through the #ItsOurSocialMedia campaign, we’re sharing practical ways that you can help stop the spread of misinformation and contribute to #FeedingTheGood on social and #BlockingTheBad.
Stand Up Awareness Week
Stand Up Awareness Week is Ireland’s largest LGBTQ+ anti-bullying campaign. Running Stand Up Awareness Week is the first step in creating a safe space for LGBTQ+ young people in your school, Youthreach or youth service. It is a time to show solidarity with LGBTQ+ youth so they feel seen, heard and safe, and to ensure everyone knows that homophobic, biphobic and transphobic language and bullying will not be tolerated.
Stand Up Awareness Week is supported by the Department of Education, and is endorsed by major organisations in the post-primary school sector, including the National Association of Principals, the teachers’ unions, guidance counsellors, and management bodies for second-level schools.
#VoteWithPride
What kind of Ireland do you want to live in?
In November 2024, alongside 17 other leading LGBTQI+ organisations in Ireland we launched the first ever LGBTQI+ sector-wide manifesto for the upcoming General Election.
We are calling on election candidates to commit to ensuring support for and safety of LGBTQI+ communities and not to ‘play politics’ with LGBTQI+ people’s lives.
Better Out Than In
Better Out Than In is a digital campaign that aims to promote help-seeking behaviour amongst LGBTQ+ young people aged 14 to 23. Through this campaign, we reach LGBTQ+ youth across Ireland, highlighting the importance of talking about their mental health and promoting the services available for support.
This year we’re tackling three key topics as part of the Better Out Than In Campaign, in collaboration with Dr. Brendan Dunlop, a UK-based psychologist who specialises in LGBTQ+ youth mental health. You can take a look at Brendan’s videos and more on Instagram, @belongtoyouthservices
As part of the Better Out Than In campaign, we also host an online hub for LGBTQ+ youth where they can learn a variety of ways of supporting their mental health and engaging in help-seeking behaviour.
#CheckTheFacts
During the 2024 Local Elections Belong To asked Local Election Candidates to pledge to use factual and accurate information from credible sources during their election campaign and during their term if elected.
313 candidates signed our pledge to show their support for the rights of LGBTQ+ people and marginalised communities whose safety is at threat due to misinformation and fake news.
#ComeIn
‘If everybody chose to come in, nobody would have to come out.’ This is the central message of our award-winning #ComeIn multimedia campaign. In partnership with the Institute of Advertising Practitioners in Ireland (IAPI) and 2FM, the #ComeIn campaign ran for four years, from 2019 to 2022.
Over the years, #ComeIn featured videos of people of all ages ‘coming in’ as allies to the LGBTQ+ community, and photographs of LGBTQ+ youth featuring projections of what they wish they had heard from their loved ones when they came out.
A highlight of the #ComeIn campaign was airing our first ever TV ad in 2021. The ad encouraging people to think twice about using derogatory, homophobic slurs, and was shown on RTÉ over four days, reaching an audience of over 1.2 million. A huge thank you to IAPI, 2FM, and all of the incredible creative professionals who worked with us on #ComeIn over the years!