Celebrities including Jessie Ware and Annie Mac urge parents to be LGBT+ allies

Celebrities including singer Jessie Ware, DJ Annie Mac and Wicked and Bridgerton star Jonathan Bailey have backed a new campaign to urge parents to become LGBT+ allies.

The trio have thrown their support behind LGBT+ young people’s charity Just Like Us’s new Guide For Parents, which aims to combat homophobic language in primary schools when it is released on Monday.

Bailey, who is a patron of the charity, said: “As parents you want the best for your children – you want them to feel safe, be confident, and thrive.

“Any home can welcome in a member of the LGBTQ+ community.

“There should be no shame in parents not understanding or knowing how best to support their LGBTQ+ children and their straight children to be allies, only shame in parents who don’t endeavour to protect, nurture, and celebrate their LGBTQ+ children.

“Just Like Us is doing the incredible work of offering our parents’ generation an education that wasn’t available to them when they were young.”

Say You Love Me singer Ware echoed his comments and said she wanted her children to “grow up in a world where they feel safe, loved, accepted for exactly who they are, knowing that love is love, and that standing up for others matters”.

It comes after research from Just Like Us found that 78% of primary school pupils, and 80% of secondary school pupils have heard homophobic language, yet a third of British parents had never spoken to their child about what LGBT+ means.

The research also found that despite the majority of straight parents considering themselves to be supportive of LGBT+ people, a third of LGBT+ young people are still not confident their parents will accept them, with almost half estranged from at least one family member.

Speaking about the new guide, former BBC Radio 1 DJ Mac added: “This guide is incredibly useful and vital to help parents support their LGBTQ+ children.

“I love that it’s deliberately wide in its scope when it comes to different ways of parenting and different kinds of families.

“There is no one size fits all, only your way and this guide helps parents to find their way by learning about the experience of other young people and then figuring out what’s best for them and their child.”

The guide focuses on encouraging positive and open conversations about LGBT+ topics and identities with children, and showing them that difference is something to be celebrated, whether they themselves are part of the LGBT+ community or not.

Topics covered include unlearning stereotypes, encouraging schools to be inclusive, and how to support children if they come out.

Laura Mackay, chief executive of Just Like Us, said: “No young person should have to fear that they will be rejected by their family for being who they are.

“Yet, sadly, we know this is the reality for many LGBTQ+ young people.

“A lack of family acceptance can have a range of negative effects on LGBTQ+ young people, from a lack of family closeness and lower self-esteem, to estrangement and even homelessness.”