Simon Blake OBE: Stonewall, Thriving & Backing Yourself

My mum died and my dad and I were stood in my childhood bedroom when they were taking her out.

And he said, I'm so glad that you gave us the chance to love you in all of you.

I may have grown up learning that being gay was not acceptable, but actually the world has to be redefined.

Our purpose then is to create people A safe and equal world where LGBTQ plus people can live, work and thrive.

And the thriving is the really important bit here.

Like this isn't about survival.

This is about us all being able to thrive.

We've got to find a way to navigate through so that every single child can grow up learning to love themselves.

And that's my driving force.

Hello

and welcome back to the Queerest podcast telling the fiercest stories.

This is Queer Talker and I'm Ben Cicchetti.

And today I am joined by the CEO of Stonewall, Simon Blake OBE.

Simon, welcome to Queer Talker.

Thanks very much for having me, Ben.

I feel like I need to say OBE every time I say your name, but I will try to only say it once.

Definitely don't say it every time.

I mean, you can just call me Simon if you want.

There we go.

My mum died and my dad and I were stood in my childhood bedroom when they were taking her out.

And he said, I'm so glad that you gave us the chance to love you in all of you.

I may have grown up learning that being gay was not acceptable, but actually the world has to be redefined.

Our purpose then is to create people A safe and equal world where LGBTQ plus people can live, work and thrive.

And the thriving is the really important bit here.

Like this isn't about survival.

This is about us all being able to thrive.

We've got to find a way to navigate through so that every single child can grow up learning to love themselves.

And that's my driving force.

Hello

and welcome back to the Queerest podcast telling the fiercest stories.

This is Queer Talker and I'm Ben Cicchetti.

And today I am joined by the CEO of Stonewall, Simon Blake OBE.

Simon, welcome to Queer Talker.

Thanks very much for having me, Ben.

I feel like I need to say OBE every time I say your name, but I will try to only say it once.

Definitely don't say it every time.

I mean, you can just call me Simon if you want.

There we go.