In 2001 OutYouth convened a community consultation. At this time I was an outreach worker with the Gay Men’s Health Project and worked to coordinate a cross-community group to explore supports for LGBT young people. My own drive came in part from my experience of working with some extraordinary homeless queer youth in the late 1990s. I wanted us to create something solid and sustainable and a base from which to advocate for change. We quickly set some principals that were to direct what was to become BeLonG To. We agreed that what we were establishing would:
• Be a social change organisation and would work to combat inequality as experienced both by LGBT+ youth and by other excluded peoples. There is no Equality without Equality for All.