Fans of Harry Styles raise over $30,000 for LGBTQ charities for his 25th birthday

2nd February 2019

The singer has been a vocal advocate for LGBTQ rights.

Fans of Harry Styles have raised over $30,000 for LGBTQ organisations in honour of the star’s 25th birthday yesterday. One fan even managed to raise over £2,200 for The Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT).

Writing why she had highlighted the charity, Sasha said: “Harry’s concerts have been considered a place of inclusivity and safety for LGBTQ+ fans since he has become a solo artist, with pride flags becoming commonplace among the crowd and often waved on the stage.

“I believe this is an opportunity for us to continue his message of kindness and ensure vulnerable youth can continue to have access to this wonderful charity’s engagement.”

Speaking to Gay Star News, Grahame Robertson, the communications specialist at the AKT said: “It’s amazing to see young people from across the spectrum reach out to support their peers.

“We’re grateful that fans of Harry and One Direction are recognising the important issue of LGBTQ+ youth homelessness and that young LGBTQ+ people are at risk of rejection from family simply because of who they are.”

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Robertson continued, saying: “It sends such a positive message that young people are very socially aware and extremely pro-active. We’re thrilled and extremely grateful that Harry’s fans are supporting AKT.

“Celebrities can help us get vitally important messages out to a wide and diverse audience. They are afforded a great platform and a massive audience to inform, educate, as well as entertain.

“It can be invaluable to charities like AKT to have the support of celebrities. It helps us to promote our services, and deliver inclusive messages of support and acceptance. AKT is lucky to have the support of many celebrities both in front of and behind the scenes.”

Robertson confirmed that the money raised for the charity would go toward improving their digital services. “Money raised for AKT can help us further develop our digital services to make sure as many young LGBTQ+ people as possible have access to support,” he said.

The AKT wasn’t the only charity that Styles’s fans raised money for. A total of 713 fans donated just over $26,000 to Switchboard and a further 263 people donated just over $8,000 to Immigration Equality, a charity that helps LGBTQ and HIV-positive asylum seekers.