Matt Jameson made history as one half of the first ever LGBT+ couple to tie the knot on the reality TV smash hit Married At First Sight UK. Since appearing on the show he has continued to enjoy a career in broadcasting as well as going on to become the UK Pride Ambassador.
However, charity remains the driving force behind Matt’s work.
This year, Matt joined our biggest ever March with Pride on behalf of modern slavery charity Causeway. We spoke to him about marching for Causeway and how he became involved with charity work. He also discussed the pressure of representing the LGBT+ community on TV.
Why did you choose to march for Causeway?
Causeway is an organisation that I feel really passionate about. It’s a massive issue, modern slavery, and it affects the LGBTQ+ community as well. There’s over 100,000 people reportedly that are involved or being exploited through modern day slavery. And if you’re a young LGBTQ+ person, you’re four times more likely to be homeless because of the situation you’re in at home, whether that’s people not accepting or family not accepting. Also, people that are coming to this country to find refuge from a country where they’ll be persecuted for being gay. They come here and then they’re targeted by these gangs and these awful people that then take people and kind of blackmail them and put them into modern day slavery. It’s a growing issue as well. I know Causeway is absolutely incredible at helping people that have been affected by modern day slavery and supporting them to get back into mainstream society and recover from the extreme, awful situation that they’ve been in. And so that’s why it’s so important for me to be able to support an organisation like Causeway, because I believe in the work that they do and I think it’s so important that they exist.
You also run your own charity, Out Together. Tell us a bit more about Out Together and how that began…
Out Together is an organisation I run in Yorkshire that supports the older LGBTQ+ community battling social isolation and loneliness. We’re very much about creating a safe community within a community for the older generations and bringing the intergenerational thing into that as well. So we run a series of social activities and events. We also run a tele-friending service as well for the most isolated that maybe physically can’t come to some of our events. And that’s really about making sure that the older community can keep well, have fun and stay connected. As you may know, some older people and some of our members are in their 90s. They may have been in a relationship for 50 odd years back in the time when it was illegal for them to be gay and to be open about the relationship. Sadly, if their partner dies and they don’t have any kind of immediate family or an immediate connection or network around them, then they find themselves really isolated. So we’re about reconnecting them with the community.
What is the driving force behind your passion for charity work?
My focus and passion for charity started when I used to work for a corporate organisation and they had a charitable foundation that I ended up getting involved with and, actually, I enjoyed doing that more than my day-to-day job. My dad had prostate cancer nearly 12 years ago now and we had support from an organisation, Macmillan Cancer Support, and that really refocused what I wanted to do. It made me realise that I don’t want to work for a corporate company. I really want to focus my energy, my skills and my talent in actually helping and supporting people. I went and worked at Macmillan Cancer Support and worked my way up. So supporting people that were going through cancer, but I have now moved that on to the LGBTQ+ community. But the driving force and the passion that I have inside, it’s about supporting people and giving people a voice that don’t have a voice or people that are in desperate situations that need that support from an organisation that they can’t get from anywhere else.
Our annual theme, Be Heard, aims to put the spotlight on voices that aren’t typically heard. How can people be vocal about issues that matter to them?
I would encourage people to be more vocal by just being open and honest. I think talking about situations that they may have come across or are aware of or are happening to them. I think it’s so important that every individual has their own voice and shouts and talks about experiences that they’ve had because you don’t know who else has had that experience. And also, by being open and honest and talking about it, that can then inspire somebody else to be open and honest. The key thing with charity and charitable organisations is awareness and visibility. That’s why it’s so important for organisations like Causeway to take part in Pride so that people across the whole of Liverpool can see all the different organisations and see Causeway and what they stand for and what they do and how they can support that particular community.
You made TV history being part of the first ever LGBT+ couple on Married At First Sight UK. With that, did you feel any pressure?
Yeah, I did. I felt quite a lot of pressure at the beginning because I was representing the LGBTQ+ community in a massive show, which was incredible to be part of. I think there is that pressure because you want to be honest and truthful in yourself and represent yourself in a positive way, but also you want to represent the community in a positive way. And I think that I did that in a great way and Dan did as well. We were both ourselves within that process and really showed that two normal blokes can get together and can get married and can have a relationship. We were together for two years, which is fantastic. Obviously, it didn’t work out in the end, which is sad, but lots of relationships do.
Visit wearecauseway.org.uk to find out more about the work of Causeway.
