About Matt Mahmood-Ogston
Charitable Work
In 2014 I founded Naz and Matt Foundation, a now multi-award-winning charity that tackles homophobia, triggered by religion or culture, to help parents accept their children.
The organisation provides free-to-access support, mentoring, educational books and award-winning films.
The charity’s primary focus is building bridges of understanding within families where religion is affecting a parent's ability to accept their LGBTQI+ child.
The birth of Naz and Matt Foundation
A few days after my darling Naz passed away the only thing on my mind was to follow him, to be with him, to join him again. I was determined to take my own life in the same way he had left this earth. I believed there was no other way forward and there was nothing else I wanted to do.
I waited patiently for hours for the right moment to present itself. For our friends and my family to be distracted long enough not to notice.
When the right moment finally arrived I felt relieved. I was about to join my darling again.
As I started to get up, to climb over the edge, I heard a loud bellowing voice that stopped my in my tracks.
Not the voice we all have in the back of our heads - but a loud, familiar voice that stopped me in my tracks. It was Naz's voice. He spoke softly, but directly at me.
A familiar voice from beyond Beyond
"Matt darling, I know you feel like you do not have a reason to stay, so I want to give you that reason to stay.
Because you always did everything I ever asked of you, I know you will do this when I ask you.
I want you set up a group, a foundation, or something that will help prevent other people, in similar situations as ours, from going through what we went through."
The Journey of the Foundation begins
As Naz's voice disappeared into the distance, instead of climbing over the balcony edge I walked back into our flat, I locked the door, collapsed to the floor and cried, and cried.
This is where the idea for Naz and Matt Foundation came from. It didn't originate from me, it was Naz's idea. And this is why it means so much to me.
If the Foundation saved my life, surely we can use it to help others too?
I have now dedicated my life to preventing another tragedy like this from ever happening again. Nobody should ever lose their life because their family would not accept them; to make that person feel they have no other way forward except to take their own life.
I live with the guilt of not being there to save my darling Naz; for not understanding enough about what he was feeling and going through; for my eyes and mind being too closed to see the reality of what was about to happen. I will carry this pain and burden forever.
Knowing what I know now I refuse to back down, I refuse to give up, I refuse to continue to live my life in the ignorance of issues many LGBTQI+ individuals experience because of the religious and cultural interpretation of their parents.
Since that day I have spent most of time listening to voices of the individuals who come to Naz and Matt Foundation for support. By listening I am learning, and slowly with the help of an incredible family of volunteers, we are taking action to prevent this tragedy from ever happening again.
The Foundation is a product of the community, for the community, with a clear mission and purpose.
About Naz and Matt Foundation
The multi-award winning charity's mission is to never let religion, any religion, come in the way of the unconditional love between parents and their children.
In parallel to providing 1-2-1 support and mentoring, theIr main focus of work is removing the barriers that prevent religious and culturally conservative parents from accepting their LGBTQI+ children.
The charity empowers and supports LGBTQI+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, and Intersex) individuals, their friends and family to work towards resolving challenges linked to sexuality or gender identity, particularly where religion is heavily influencing the situation.
By tackling the problem head on and raising awareness Naz and Matt Foundation hopes to open the eyes of closed minds in communities and families so that they will love the children they gave birth to, for the individuals they were born to be.