‘Our school’s pride club has helped our LGBTQ+ pupils blossom’

Amber Sims couldn’t help but smile when her students got up to sing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody and dance to Lady Gaga’s Judas. Even the complete ‘wallflower’ types took part in karaoke, the geography teacher at Eastbourne Academy secondary school told Metro. But the 26-year-old admits she wasn’t the reason the students are ‘blossoming’. It’s all on them for starting an LGBTQ+ after-school club.

‘When the group was in its infancy, five or six kids, I had to be all, “No, guys, this is your space”,’ Amber, who is queer, said. ‘”I might be the teacher here but this is your space”.’. Amber helped set up the school’s ‘Pride Club’ in November. Some 17 students now swing by every week. Amber says that while the school was keen to find a teacher to run a hangout for queer pupils and allies, it was Year 7 students pushing the most for one.

With thousands of members from all over the world, our vibrant LGBTQ+ WhatsApp channel is a hub for all the latest news and important issues that face the LGBTQ+ community. Simply click on this link, select ‘Join Chat’ and you’re in! Don't forget to turn on notifications!. ‘They wanted a space where they could talk about things, raise awareness and be comfortable,’ Amber said. ‘I’m there to listen and offer a perspective.

‘We had a couple of new faces in the last session, too.’. The school in the Hamden Park area of Eastbourne, a coastal city in East Sussex, previously had a ‘Rainbow Club’ with 60 students that ended when the teacher running it retired. Amber formed a new club with the help of Just Like Us, an LGBTQ+ young people charity nominated for ‘grassroots or charity organisation of the year’ at the Metro Pride Awards.

Just Like Us runs a Pride Groups Programme, which has helped 410 schools as of September. It sees teachers and students given training, resources and support to set up lunchtime or after-school clubs for queer youngsters and allies. All teachers involved have said the group ‘improved the wellbeing of pupils’. Since 2010, the UK has seen the Equality Act passed, same-sex marriage legalised and acceptance of LGBTQ+ rights soar.

For today’s teenagers, this is all they know. Most Pride Club attendees would have been in nursery – or not even born yet – when the nation cheered on gay swimmer Tom Daley in the 2012 Olympics. Now young people are twice more likely to openly identify as queer and come out far earlier than the generation before, if they feel a need to announce their identity at all. But there’s a dark side to this. As much as acceptance is on the up, queer teens’ mental health woes are almost ‘paradoxically‘ not decreasing, being twice more likely to suffer from depression, panic attacks and anxiety.

After all, on top of headlines about inclusion, they’ve also grown up with seeing a rise in anti-LGBTQ+ hate crimes and the rollback of trans rights. While Amber admits that the internet has made it far easier for Gen Z LGBTQ+ youth to meet others like them, studies show isolation remains rife. The 2025 Metro Pride Awards are being held on February 26. The ceremony will bring together the influential and inspiring LGBTQ+ individuals and organisations to honour the talent, resilience and passion that define the community.

Rylan Clark – himself nominated – will be hosting. The full list of the nominees can be found here. Metro Pride Award winners will be decided by a mixture of public vote by Metro readers and a judging panel. You can vote now at www.metroprideawards.com. Amber’s students wanted to change this. For the first few weeks, the LGBTQ+ club saw two attend. Three at a push. Soon enough, these few pupils brought their friends, who brought their friends. ‘It’s really blossomed,’ the teacher said.

Club meetings see members discuss topics such as how the school can celebrate Pride or better incorporate pronouns into teaching, before playing games to ‘shake off the feelings’. The club has a code of conduct to ensure all members feel safe and listened to while also taking weekly votes on what activities to do next. ‘They really want a “World News Night” next, like broadcasting LGBTQ+ news,’ Amber said.

Each week, the club also picks a sexual orientation or gender identity to encourage awareness by making posts with the identity’s flag and some information. Some young people use certain pronouns only in the club. ‘It’s nice they have the club so they can explore their identity,’ Amber says. An ad campaign helps – well, kind of. School computers regularly display posters promoting the club and encouraging people to sign up.

Badges help, too. All members and supporters wear rainbow flags or heart pins ‘proudly’ on their school uniforms. ‘Badges are a big thing in the school… They were so excited about these badges,’ Amber said, adding: ‘Walking around with these badges, having conversations, they were so excited about them.’. On a recent evening, Amber was walking a student, who is not LGBTQ+, home when she met their same-sex parents.