A SUPPORT group set up by a Dorchester teenager to tackle homophobia has teamed up with a leading youth project to mark an international campaign.

Stars will be teaming up with the Allsorts – a charity supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in Brighton – to mark International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) on May 17 through a social media campaign.

The two groups will post quotes on social media sites in the run up to the day in a bid to raise awareness of the issue of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia worldwide, with a focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in the United Kingdom.

Project director and founder of Stars Dan Spracklen said: “I am very excited to be working with Allsorts on a project that could have a very large positive impact.

“It sends out the right messages when organisations work together on things like this.”

The link up came after representatives from Stars paid a visit to Brighton earlier in the year to visit the Allsorts team.

Dan said: “We met some great people and had many ideas of how we can link up our groups.”

Project co-ordinator Sam Kelly added: “The meeting with Allsorts allowed us to gain more insight into how their group is run and helped us to construct ideas to improve what we offer in the Dorset area.”

Dan said the Allsorts visit had given the Stars team the idea for its new THIS (Transphobia and Homophobia Informal Support) project, which offers support sessions and regular meetings.

Sam added: “We thought it would be a good idea to give LGBT youth in the Dorchester area the chance to have one-to-one peer support sessions for those who aren’t comfortable in a group session.”

For more information about Stars and THIS visit the group’s new website at www.starspeerproject.com

To follow the social media campaign search for the Stars peer group or Allsorts youth on Facebook and Twitter.