Being Inclusive!
Tony Stevenson, Training and consultancy manager, LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing
Gilly Anderson, Housing Services Manager, Grampian Housing Association
Tony Stevenson and Gilly Anderson delivered a presentation that was informative, engaging and gave the audience some practical advice on delivering equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.
Tony challenged the stereotype talking about a substantial section of society (7%) that is largely hidden and face real challenges when it comes to housing. He also argued that there should be far more extensive engagement of LGBT people by housing providers in Scotland. Research that he had carried out showed that safety in the home is still a very real concern for LGBT people. This is particularly alarming as two-thirds of RSLs approached said that they did not think LGBT people had any particular housing needs.
As part of the project the LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing have developed standards that they feel housing providers must adopt if they are going to effectively address equalities for LGBT people.
They have also developed a two-day training programme that has been described by Gilly Anderson as 'the best training that she has attended' in the 17 years she has worked in housing. They have insisted that any RSL that attends the training must commit to sending at least two senior members of staff so the training can be put into action and not become a tokenistic exercise.
Gilly Anderson then discussed the steps that Grampian Housing Association is taking to become more inclusive for LGBT people.
She described how the training had revealed the short comings of their existing inclusion policy and had acted as a catalyst for the association to engage with LGBT people and address the issue of homophobia with their staff and tenants.