Gay Farmer Helple - Pots of Light

Contents:

• GAY FARMER HELPLINE
• HOW A GAY HELPLE IS SUPPORTG HUNDREDS OF ISOLATED LGBTQ FARMERS
• MENTAL HEALTH ISSU ARE RISG AMONG GAY FARMERS — BUT ONE MAN IS MAKG A REAL DIFFERENCE
• A LIFELE FOR GAY FARMERS
• THE SECRET LIV OF GAY FARMERS
• MEET THE GAY FARMER BREAKG DOWN LGBT+ STEREOTYP FARMG
• GAY FARMER HELPLE
• GAY FARMER HELPLE
• THE CHAPLA WHO HELPS GAY FARMERS

GAY FARMER HELPLINE

The helple is there to support dividuals to discs and share their thoughts, feelgs and ncerns about beg gay.

I’m “out” and que fortable beg a gay man. We unrstand that beg gay isn’t always easy and like most people we have our ups and downs.

HOW A GAY HELPLE IS SUPPORTG HUNDREDS OF ISOLATED LGBTQ FARMERS

Is the Gay Farmer helple only available to gay farmers? If my iends fd out I’m gay, I’m petrified of losg them.

However, many s your iends may have already spected that you were gay and when they do fd out, may make ls of a al of than yourself! Remember, those type of iends uld be replaced by hont, scere, gay iends whose iendship would be unndnal and who would value you for the person you are.

MENTAL HEALTH ISSU ARE RISG AMONG GAY FARMERS — BUT ONE MAN IS MAKG A REAL DIFFERENCE

Farmg muni are ually small, tight-kn and, often nservative, makg extremely difficult to live an openly gay life. On top of this, there is immense prsure to produce a heir to work on the farm, leadg many gay farmers to the closet. Sce 2010, Canon Keh Inon has n a helple voted to gay farmers who are experiencg mental health problems, social excln over their sexualy or are havg trouble g out.

Inon has helped hundreds of gay farmers e to terms wh their sexualy and live more plete liv. “I was the agricultural chapla Chhire [a unty northwt England] for about 15 years and around six years ago I found myself workg wh a few gay farmers, ” says Inon.

“Even though I’m gay myself, you don’t really hear about gay farmers, ’s almost like they don’t exist, but of urse they do – ’s jt that their problems aren’t spoken about.

A LIFELE FOR GAY FARMERS

Before settg up the helple, Inon went to the Office for Natnal Statistics to fd out how many farmers worked Chhire and om the figur timated that there were close to 300 gay farmers workg the unty alone. Wh jt a mobile phone to receive lls and an advert a farmers’ newspaper; the Gay Farmer Helple was lnched. From the first few days of operatn gay farmers have been llg to the helple and even now Inon is averagg one new se every week.

Inon rells a Sunday morng when a farmer lled up the helple panickg about havg unprotected gay sex, after gog out on the gay scene for the first time the night before.

As their children go off to Universy or beg workg at the fay farm, many gay farmers beg to ask themselv difficult qutns about their future and thk about g out. The plex circumstanc ntribute to the extremely high suici rate of farmers, wh the isolatn faced by ral farmers bed wh anti-gay stigma drivg the suici rat of gay farmers even higher.

THE SECRET LIV OF GAY FARMERS

Inon believ that although there may be higher levels of homophobia the farmg muny than other parts of society, the bigger problem is the fear of g out rather than the experience self.

MEET THE GAY FARMER BREAKG DOWN LGBT+ STEREOTYP FARMG

” Dpe the wispread verage of both Inon and his Gay Farmer Helple natnal prs, he has only heard om 13 people the past who said they don’t approve of his ia. Equally, ral farmers the hills of Wal or the Highlands of Stland face many addnal challeng livg an openly gay life but, general, the worst fears most farmers have about tellg iends and fay they are gay simply don’t materialise.

Highlightg the problems faced by gay farmers is helpg rce the stigma attached to talkg about LGBTQ issu and mental health among people who are most vulnerable and at risk. “I expected that the younger generatn wouldn’t have the same type of problems but when I gave talks at agricultural lleg and mentned gay issu, there were young folk g up to me afterwards and sayg: ‘I’ve never told anyone else this but I’m gay, ’” says Inon. Beg gay an agricultural environment is tough.

GAY FARMER HELPLE

Acrdg to alarmg data om the Office for Natnal Statistics (ONS), 50 gay farmers a year end their own liv, wh the fear of g out to loved on beg one of the ma reasons. "The prsure is to produce an heir, " Keh Inon, a former chapla who set up the Gay Farmer Helple 2010, tells Country Livg UK. "Farmg is a difficult bs at the bt of tim (long hours, poor ndns and tight prof), but for gay men, life n be eply excludg.

Acrdg to a study June last year, "gay datg" was one of the most-Googled search terms ral areas across the UK, wh more people lookg for safe LGBTQ+ muni to socialise wh. "If you are gay and you live Manchter, you n go anonymoly to gay areas and meet people. While his dad got to him on time, he said he would have left his son to die if he knew he was gay.

GAY FARMER HELPLE

"I was workg as a chapla and found myself workg wh a uple of gay farmers.

Even though I am gay, there are not many gay farmers around, " he tells . " Keh's ma aim of the Gay Farmer Helple is to simply listen — and be the iend so many need.

"One four gay men will attempt suici at some pot their liv, " he tells . "If you're both gay and a farmer, the risk of suici is enormo. Deprsn is a big issue, both the gay muny and the farmg muny.

THE CHAPLA WHO HELPS GAY FARMERS

" As well as feelg pletely alone, the farmers live fear of people fdg out and sensor everythg " se they sound gay". "Over 500 farmers have received help so far While life for LGBTQ agricultural workers is often weighed down by ep pa, strs and sadns, the good news is that nearly 500 farmers, some of who were suicidal, have received Keh's help so farmer, who was secretly gay, had a private relatnship wh a male iend who sudnly died. John Smh (not his real name), another member of the helple, told how has helped him: "It helped me fd rmatn, as well as the opportuny to meet other gay men the farmg muny.

To ntact the Gay Farmer Helple, ll 07837931894.