From training to become a Catholic priest, Richard McKendrick has gone on to head a major support charity for gay, lesbian and bisexual young people. Kate Coxon spoke to him.

Four years ago Richard McKendrick applied to be a carer with the Albert Kennedy Trust, which provides specialist support services for lesbian, gay and bisexual young people. He didn’t get the job. "I was turned down because they were only recruiting carers in London and I wasn’t living there at the time." Today, the organisation covers London, Manchester and Brighton, is expanding into Northern Ireland, and has development plans for Wales and Scotland. McKendrick is its director.

The trust was formed in 1989, shortly after the death of Albert Kennedy, a gay teenager who had run away from a children’s home. The 16 year old fell to his death as he tried to escape from a homophobic attack in a multi-storey car park in Manchester. The bulk of the trust’s work consists of providing supported lodgings, advice and advocacy to 16 to 19 year olds who are homeless or living in a hostile environment. Placements are supported by a social worker, and some foster placements for under-16s are undertaken in partnership with social services.

McKendrick points out that supporting lesbian, gay and bisexual teenagers is not easy. "This is not because of the client group, but because we are an easy target for unhelpful media stereotypes. People say: ‘how can young people possibly know whether they are gay or lesbian or bisexual - you are influencing them, corrupting them and placing them with paedophiles’."

The reality, he says, is that when young people come out as lesbian, gay or bisexual, those around them are ill-equipped to cope. "Some teenagers are thrown out of home, or if they’re in the care system like Albert Kennedy, they run away. They head for the bright lights of the cities - especially where there’s a known gay scene." Getting a place in a hostel may not be the answer for these young people, who are targets for homophobic abuse and discrimination.

McKendrick is familiar with discrimination. When he came out nine years ago, he was training to be a Catholic priest. "I was told: ‘you can be gay or you can be a priest - you can’t do both.’ I was devastated." Now, he says, he would challenge this view. He took a job as a mental health worker in a residential project where he’d been a volunteer, eventually moving into a management role at the charity Turning Point.

Three months into the director’s job, McKendrick is planning a relaunch of the trust. "We are in the process of expanding. At the moment we’re developing the service in Northern Ireland. We want to promote our services more widely across the statutory sector and beyond the lesbian, gay and bisexual community." Since about 20 per cent of the trust’s income comes from the Diana Fund, which has experienced cashflow problems, securing more funding is an issue. The trust is also working hard to attract more carers. "Young people are there in bucket loads - but appropriate carers are few and far between." There is also the need for a short-term crisis residential unit as a safe alternative to a hostel if the young person can’t be matched to a carer.

Much of the trust’s work is with 16 and 17 year olds, a group that has been poorly served by mainstream services since changes to housing benefit entitlement in the early 1990s. McKendrick is concerned that recent policy measures are not helping. "Supporting People [the government’s programme for strategic funding of housing-related support services] has effectively taken a big chunk out of our funding. These kids are still slipping through the net."

But McKendrick sees much cause for optimism. "This is a good time to expand. The disappearance of section 28 should make life much easier for us. In the past, professionals have sometimes been concerned about working with us, for fear that they’ll be seen to be ‘promoting homosexuality’. We’re keen to do more preventive training, and we’re noticing more willingness to address the huge problem of homophobic bullying in schools."