Kennedy had experienced a great deal of homophobia during his life. Manchester's gay community was moved into action by the Trust's founder patron Cath Hall. Cath Hall was a straight foster carer who saw the need for an organisation to be set up to support young lesbian, gay, bi and trans people who were facing homelessness because of rejection at home. She had observed that Kennedy's case was not isolated, and that many other LGBTQ+ young people in and out of the foster care system were struggling with the effects of homophobia. Hall described the founding of the trust as "an emotional response, an angry response, to what was going on".
