A PROMINENT member of the Furness LGBT community has spoken of his grief after the suicide of an influential member of the group.

Lee Wicks, the chairman of the Furness LGBT group, said he was “devastated” after friend and leading light of the lesbian gay bisexual and transgender community Stephen Poxton killed himself aged 26.

Known as “Pogo” after the dance move, he was seen as an influential member of the group, despite being based in America, and moderated the LGBT community’s Facebook group.

Mr Wicks said: “Even though the group was established after he joined, he had a huge influence on it.

“There would not have been a group all these years without him.”

Mr Poxton, who had struggled with addiction and mental health problems, shot himself in his home city of Louisville in Kentucky.

Mr Wicks said: “The violence of the way he went makes it hard for me to get over it.

“To say I was devastated is an understatement, and I have been really struggling with him being gone.

“It is such a waste of a life for him to go and I tried so hard to talk him out of doing what he did.”

Mr Wicks said his friend did a lot to protect the group from hateful comment directed to them online and said Barrow was a difficult place for LGBT people to live.

“I have seen a number of suicides within our group in Barrow,” said Mr Wicks.

“It is hard living in a small town, it much less accepting and progressive than big cities.

“I don’t imagine it is at the same level of where Pogo lived in the south of America but there are elements that are similar. I think it is getting better slowly but there is still some work to be done.”

An LGBT celebration event, Cumbria Pride, will take place on September 29 in Carlisle.

It will feature a march and live entertainment.