About directory.lgbt
directory.lgbt is a free, independent directory of LGBTQIA+ groups, services and support across the UK. Listings are built from official register data and what organisations publish about themselves, and every one shows the date it was last checked — so you can find real help, not a dead link.
Why this exists
directory.lgbt started in April 2026. The problem it exists to fix is one anyone in the community can see: small LGBTQIA+ groups are almost invisible online, the way you hear about them is word of mouth, and what does get written down quietly goes stale. Everyone I spoke to who had run a directory told me the same thing: the hard part isn't building the list, it's keeping it current. I've spent my career working with data and AI, and I was sure that part could be done better. It could be automated where a machine can do it, and checked by people where it counts. That's the bet the whole project is built on. One more thing settled it: a friend who runs a small community group told me they'd never really felt their group fitted on the existing directories. So this is just a directory. It's independent, with no parent organisation, and open to any group that wants to be found.
The problem
Fragmented, siloed information
LGBTQIA+ support in the UK is scattered across separate directories and lists run by different organisations, each covering only part of the picture. If you don't already know where to look, you can miss help that exists.
No freshness signal
Most directories don't show when a listing was last checked. Phone numbers change, services close, and out-of-date information can send someone to a dead end at the worst possible time.
Patchy coverage
Some parts of the UK are well served; others have almost nothing listed anywhere. We're building toward full UK coverage, checked against official registers, not just the areas that are easiest to find.
How it works
Every listing on directory.lgbt starts with data from official registers — the Charity Commission (England & Wales), OSCR (Scotland), the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, and Companies House — enriched with what organisations publish about themselves. We remove duplicates and track exactly which source gave us each piece of information. Automated checks handle the clear-cut cases; anything uncertain waits for a person, and we keep reviewing listings after they're live. Every listing shows the date it was last checked.
- Straight from official registers
- Deduplication
- Field-level provenance
- Review + visible last-checked dates
Impact
- Organisations added this quarter
- 347
- Listings verified this quarter
- 347
- Categories covered
- 10
- Regions with active listings
- 11
Who's behind it
Pete Hannam
Founder — 25 years in data and technology
Pete has spent more than 25 years building data platforms and technical teams across government and industry — including a decade volunteering as Switchboard LGBT+'s de facto CTO, until late 2025. He started directory.lgbt in April 2026 on a bet drawn straight from that background: that with the right data engineering and AI, the hard part of any directory — keeping it current — can finally be automated.
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