It has now been 100 days of the new Labour Government and as an organisation The Diversity Trust wants to ensure our MPs will uphold their roles to support everyone in their constituencies. As we have seen in the years gone by LGBTQ+ people have either not been supported or actively discriminated against by the government.
We want to start an open dialogue with all the MPs who represent the people living in the Avon & Somerset and Gloucestershire regions.
The Trust would welcome hearing from MPs as to how they will stand in solidarity with LGBTQ+ people, and hold the government to account to make sure LGBTQ+ issues are still very much on the table and part of the government’s conversations.
Read our letter below:
Dear Member of Parliament
At the Diversity Trust our mission is to influence social change to create a fairer and safer society. In March this year we announced a new grant award from the National Lottery Community Fund which is enabling us to provide voice and representation to the LGBTQ+ communities across the region.
As an elected official it is your duty to act in the best interest of those constituents who voted you into office. As such, our values align in that we all want to produce the best outcomes for the people we represent.
Now that the first 100 days of the Labour Government have passed, we are calling for assurances and promises for you to hold your party to account and take a strong stance in support of LGBTQ+ people in your constituency.
There are a range of policy areas, including health, justice, migration, public safety, education, global leadership, and civil society where we believe the UK Government can contribute positively to LGBTQ+ lives, and we would like to work more closely with you and the LGBTQ+ community to make sure this work takes place.
As a historically marginalised community, LGBTQ+ people have felt the impact of rhetoric coming from both the Government and the media and are increasingly aware of how this rhetoric is shaping public opinion in increasingly dangerous ways. In light of these experiences, we are calling for our local MPs to take a more proactive stance when it comes to showing solidarity with LGBTQ+ people in their constituencies.
The Diversity Trust is on a mission to help amplify the voices of LGBTQ+ people in our region and as such we are hoping to open a two-way dialogue with our local MPs to ensure that the government still has LGBTQ+ issues on the table and continues to be a key area of focus for our government.
Research from Stonewall has shown that 44 percent of LGBTQ+ people do not feel safe to hold their partner’s hand in public and a large proportion of the community do not feel safe to live their lives freely and openly.
In its 2024 manifesto, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party committed to both a full trans-inclusive ban on conversion practices and modernisation and simplification of gender recognition laws, all of which would be positive steps towards improving the lives of LGBTQ+ people. And would put the UK in line with an increasing number of European and Global partners.
Within weeks of coming to power, Wes Streeting extended the temporary ban on new prescriptions of GnRH analogues (or ‘puberty blockers’) for transgender youth and has expressed an intention to make the ban permanent. This goes far beyond the recommendations of the widely criticised Cass Review, and seriously undermines Labour’s manifesto commitments to “remove indignities for trans people who deserve recognition and respect”.
As a society we should be aiming to get to a place where prejudice and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people are consigned to history. This can be done by having allies in parliament who will push for stronger and more stringent scrutiny and laws put in place to ensure LGBTQ+ people can live freely and comfortably however they wish.
As an organisation, and as members of the community, we want to hear how you as an elected official plan to support LGBTQ+ people, ensuring that your party is tackling LGBTQ+ issues, and assurances that you are serving the LGBTQ+ members of your constituency.
We would like to start an open dialogue with our local MPs and ensure an open relationship with those from the LGBTQ+ community which you represent.
We hope you will take this letter in the spirit of openness, and we eagerly await your response. Better yet, we would welcome an opportunity to meet with you alongside some of the LGBTQ+ people you serve to enable you to hear the concerns of LGBTQ+ people first hand and discuss how you can help as their elected representative.
Berkeley Wilde Tim Birkbeck
The Diversity Trust CEO LGBTQ+ Voices & Representation Coordinator
14th October, 2024