Paul Martin nominated

Paul Martin OBE, Nominated Amongst Greater Manchester’s Most Influential

Paul Martin OBE, Chief Executive of The Lesbian & Gay Foundation, has been included in Manchester Evening News’ list of the 250 most influential people in Greater Manchester.
MANCHESTER, 8 May 2012 – The list, announced last Friday, features 250 of the most influential people in Greater Manchester from services, sport, media, public sector, arts, charities, religion and research. Paul Martin OBE, who has been a leading figure in the LGB&T community for over 20 years, has been nominated in the religion and charities section.
 
Driven by his own experiences of discrimination, Paul co-founded Healthy Gay Manchester in 1994. In 2000, HGM merged with Manchester Lesbian and Gay Switchboard, the UK's second longest serving telephone helpline supporting LGB people, to form The Lesbian & Gay Foundation, where Paul took on the role of Chief Executive.
 
The Lesbian & Gay Foundation is based in the heart of Manchester’s LGB&T village and is a leading charity fighting for and supporting lesbian, gay and bisexual people. It provides a range of services including counselling, HIV testing, events for women, support groups, a sexual health programme, anti-homophobia projects in schools, a regional magazine and a long-established helpline. In 2010/11 it supported over 40,000 people and continues to see a rise in demand for its wide range of services.
 
Paul comments; “Being nominated is a real privilege. I am always inspired to achieve greater things for the LGB&T community”. Paul has been instrumental in developing services for LBG&T people;“in the early days, I was the only Chief Officer of a gay and bisexual men's charity who was contemplating broadening our remit to work with lesbian and bisexual women”.
 
Paul credits his drive to what made him become involved to begin with, though he admits he has changed as a person in the time between. "I've never forgotten people I love dying from HIV; that was a massive motivator for me in the early days of my career and that's never left me.”
 
In June last year Paul was awarded an Order of the British Empire, Officer Class for services to the community. He has been highlighted by Attitude magazine in their role models issue, is a non-executive director of NHS Manchester, sits on the board of Gaydio and is also Chair of The National LGB&T Partnership which is a strategic partner of The Department of Health. Paul is a member of the Steering Group for the development of ACEVO North, The Equality & Human Rights Commission Stakeholder Group and is also on the Points 4 Life board.
 
People can vote for whom they think is the most influential on the Manchester Evening News’ 2012 list. The nominations and voting is available to view online at www.menmedia.co.uk/business

Published: 10-May-2012: (1290)