Words Thomas Stichbury
Growing up gay in a tiny market town in the UK, Ben Smith found himself searching in the wrong places for people going through similar experiences.
Lonely and isolated, a teenage Ben turned to online hook-up websites. “I was on Gaydar when I was 15 years old,” he says, squirming slightly in his seat, “I used it as a way of connecting with people.” He went on to lose his virginity at the same age — to someone he met on the site. Leaping ahead a few years, Ben is on a mission to eradicate loneliness in the LGBT+ community with his online platform, All Together UK. The Twitter initiative, created seven months ago, shines a spotlight on a different follower each day, sharing their story.