- Conference
- 2011 National LGBT Conference
- Date
- 8 August 2011
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
We have seen over the life of the current United Kingdom Government, many cynical attempts to inveigle themselves with the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Community, but from a public relations man that lacks substance but deals in dogma alone, nobody should be fooled. The reality of the situation is that many LGBT equality organisations and many organisations that include work on LGBT equality have either lost funding or have had massive reductions in their financial and work capacity.
This means that organisations that would have been considered as independent voices, in an increased wave of sycophancy and submission, are losing ground and fighting to survive. This has meant that inevitably UNISON and other unions are increasingly seen as the only dissenting, independent, critical and organised resistance to the cuts being made upon LGBT equality work and equality work as a whole. We all know that in the last 15 years it is the public services and public service organisations that have made the most positive strides in supporting work around equality.
Conference recognises that there is still much work to do to raise awareness amongst LGBT people, and more widely, of the impact of the cuts on LGBT people and welcomes initiatives such as the leaflets about the cuts produced by the TUC LGBT Committee which are aimed at the LGBT community.
It further recognises the importance of strengthening LGBT visibility and involvement in campaigns against the cuts, and that LGBT anti-cuts groups, such as Queers Against the Cuts, have an important role to play
Conference asks that we all consider our role in the fight back against the cuts in public services, the role we, as LGBT members, have to play in fighting to retain LGBT equality and equality work and that our resistance should encompass the following elements:
1.Join local and regional public service alliances or other forms of active campaigning against the cuts and efficiencies agenda, imposed by the UK Government;
2.Join local campaigns which seek to retain important equality based work;
3.Highlight the absence of the equality dimension in the Government’s cuts through local and national media, press, social networks and other electronic forms of communication;
4.Highlight the impact of cuts on the LGBT community and the services being lost;
5.Align ourselves to other worthy campaigns that can help form a broader alliance in support of work around equalities.