Ella Goschalk is a volunteer at Switchboard

A LONG-RUNNING helpline for LGBT+ people has seen a rise in the number of calls about discrimination, a council debate was told.

Ella Goschalk, a volunteer for the Switchboard service, told the Town Hall: “I think we get many calls from people who just want to say out loud for the first time that they are gay, or lesbian, or queer, or however they want to define their identity. There is a lot of fear of ‘coming out’ that still exists.”

She said: “We definitely get more calls about gender identity, and trans experiences – and we seem to be getting a lot of calls around mental health and disability, especially from those struggling to access statutory services. We get calls from older LGBT people experiencing loneliness or adjusting to a new phase of life. In the past year, we’ve seen calls about discrimination rise by 12 percent and we’ve seen calls about isolation rise by 13 percent.”

The helpline, which runs from 10am to 10pm each day with a policy of not ending calls until callers are ready, has been running since 1974 and has helped thousands of distressed LGBT+ people.

“I spoke to a man who had become homeless quite recently,” said Ms Goschalk. “He was from a faith background and his marriage had ended due to his sexuality – and he literally called from the park where he was living.”

She added: “I spoke to a young woman who was living with her mum, had a really difficult relationship, and was kind of struggling to see herself in the media and social media and popular culture – and was looking for role models.”

Ms Goschalk was one of several speakers from groups and charities invited to address councillors with ideas on how to help LGBT+ residents in Camden. The debate was set up after a homophobic attack on two women on a night bus last month and amid warnings of complacency.

Switchboard, which began life in the basement of Housmans bookshop in King’s Cross, takes 15,000 calls a year, but Ms Goschalk, a trustee, said funding was always an issue.

She said: “It takes us about £4 to answer each call and £90,000 to keep us going each year. What we are seeing is that demand for services is increasing, so we’ve had an eight percent rise over the past three years and we expect that to continue.”