A 19-YEAR-OLD trans man who acts as a voice for young people while working through his own personal journey has been shortlisted for an LCR Pride Award.

Ben Hodge from Rainhill faced difficulty after coming out as trans.

But he did not let this prevent him as acting as a voice for others, becoming a County Youth Commissioner for Merseyside Scouts, a Trustee of the Michael Causer Foundation and working with groups such as Gyro, YPAS, Pride Trust and NCS.

He does all of this while also studying at Salford University and making his stand-up debut at the Edinburgh Fringe.

For this and more he has nominated for the Liverpool City Regions inaugural LGBT+ Young Person of the Year Award.

Ben, 19, said: "I only found out I was nominated after finding out I was shortlisted when the list came out and I just looked at it on Facebook.

St Helens Star:

Ben

"I felt really excited but shocked because someone out there put me forward for this and that to me makes me feel so proud.

"It's really cute and when I told my family and my boyfriend they were just so proud of me.

"It makes me feel really good because hopefully this will show other children like me that they can overcome things and help others and themselves too.

"When I was young there was noone from our area to aspire to like that and now to be shortlisted alongside Ben Saunders, who I know, and everyone else, is just amazing.

"I can't wait to go with my partner, as soon as we heard it was a cabaret awards show we already started looking at outfits where we could match our bow ties, it's going to be so fun."

The LCR Awards will take place on Thursday, September 26 at Liverpool's Hilton Hotel.