The UK has made significant progress in recent years to achieve equality for LGBT people. The Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender reassignment, whether perceived or genuine. Same sex couples can celebrate their unions and more are becoming adoptive parents.
Equality in law though, doesn’t guarantee equality in life. That’s why we have taken steps to prevent discrimination against LGBT individuals from happening in the first place. We have published guidance for employers on recruiting and retaining transgender employees and we increased the length of sentences for transgender hate crime. Just last year, we announced a £3 million investment to prevent and address homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools.
If you identify as having a minority sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics, you're 16 years old or over, and you haven't completed the survey yet, it's open until 15 October 2017. Find the survey on GOV.UK.
What the evidence says
Making good and effective policy requires sound evidence and hearing directly from the people who are affected by it. To understand the needs and experiences of LGBT people, we commissioned the National Institute of Economic and Social Research to review the existing evidence base on the inequalities experienced by the LGBT communities in the UK.
Their report found that it was difficult to assess the situation of LGBT people due to the lack of robust and representative evidence. Despite this, the review revealed that, compared to their heterosexual peers, LGBT people face discrimination, bullying and harassment in education and at work, hate crime, and higher inequalities in health satisfaction and outcomes.
Why we are doing a survey
We have launched a national LGBT survey to understand more about LGBT and intersex people’s experiences of accessing and using public services in the UK, as well as any experiences of discrimination they may have faced throughout their lives.
In the survey, we ask questions about people’s experiences in education and in the workplace, and about their personal safety and access to healthcare. This is because existing evidence tells us these are the main areas of inequalities LGBT people face and we need to gather more information if we want to address this.
We also have an open text box at the end of the survey so people can tell us anything else that prevents them from accessing services that meet their needs, or living their lives free from discrimination.
Less than a week to go
We have now had over 100,000 responses to the survey, and we are thrilled that so many people have told us about their experiences.
The survey is closing at the end of the week. If you haven’t done so already, please complete the survey or share it amongst your networks before it closes on Sunday.
Once the survey closes on 15th October, it will take a couple of months to clean and analyse the data. The results will inform this Government’s next steps to further LGBT equality.
The survey is open to anyone living in the UK, who is 16-years old or above and has a minority sexual orientation or gender identity, or different sex characteristics. This means that the survey includes intersex and non-binary individuals. Find the survey on GOV.UK.
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