Celebrating LGBTQ+ Pride

Darllen yn y Gymraeg

Cyngor ar Bopeth Gwynedd Citizens Advice is proud to support LGBTQ+ Pride and to celebrate the voices of our LGBTQ+ community. 

What is Pride?

Pride began as a protest – we celebrate annually in June to honour the 1969 Stonewall riots, which changed gay rights in the USA and beyond. It’s now a way for us all to come together in celebration, unity and solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community. It’s an opportunity to celebrate how far rights for LGTBQ+ people have come, highlight the many contributions of amazing LGBTQ+ people and push for continued progress.

Why are we using the Progress Pride flag?

Designed by Daniel Quasar in 2018, the Progress Pride flag features black and brown stripes to represent people of colour, and light blue, pink and white to include the trans flag in its design. This flag recognises intersectionality within the LGBTQ+ community and honours LGBTQ+ people of colour, whose activism inspired the very first Pride, as well as different gender identities.

Please note: most of the web links below are internal to Citizens Advice but at the bottom there are also links to external sources.

What are Citizens Advice doing to support the LGBTQ+ Community?

Citizens Advice is committed to being an inclusive organisation for LGBTQ+ people.

Research conducted during our 80th year celebrations showed how we’ve supported the LGBTQ+ community in the past. Read about how we adopted our first policy on lesbian and gay rights in the 1980’s and the reaction of the UK press at the time, as well as how individuals such as Dorothy Keeling and John Browning played important roles in progressing our service.

Our work to support LGBTQ+ staff, volunteers and clients continues today. 

• The ASK routine enquiry programme is a routine enquiry training advisers and supervisors in local offices to support clients disclosing current or past experiences of gender-based violence or abuse. Our guidance includes specific content for supporting LGBTQ+ survivors and we’ll also update and expand upon this in the upcoming programme update, including refreshed training guidance
• We worked with trans and non-binary people to refresh and update our discrimination content for trans people. Watch back the recording from last year’s’ event to hear more about this work
• As part of a scheduled review of our EDI-related policies, this year we updated our existing Trans Inclusion policy (previously Trans Equality policy) and Transitioning at work guidance. We also published an internal statement that provides further context on our approach to trans rights and inclusion. We’re doing this because we want to make clear that we support our trans and non-binary clients and colleagues, in line with our values and our social justice approach to advancing EDI 

Network Groups

Within the Citizens Advice network, our Network Groups play an important role to contribute to creating a more diverse and inclusive service and advancing equity, diversity and inclusion at Citizens Advice. All of our Network Groups are open to colleagues from across our service and welcome people from local and National Citizens Advice. 

 Take a look at their Workplace pages to find out how you can support them:

• Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAME) Network Group
• Disability Network Group
• LGBTQ+ Network Group
• Trans and non-binary Network Group 

Additional resources and learning

The EDI team have curated a list of external resources and learning to support you to understand the issues that impact the LGBTQ+ community, and what you can do to support them. We’ve categorised these into themes. Please note that we’re not responsible for the content on external websites.

Our Advancing EDI learning programme is centered around improving EDI capability and will help us deliver accessible services and ensure our workplaces are inclusive of everyone. There are 12 learning modules available, including a spotlight on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer + (LGBTQ+) communities. Take a look at the national intranet page for more information on how the learning will be delivered to staff and volunteers in Citizens Advice.

Allyship

• Read 10 ways to be an ally and a friend to people in the LGBTQ+ community, from GLAAD
• Read 10 ways to step up as an ally to non-binary people, and 10 ways to step up as an ally to bi people from Stonewall
• Learn about the impact of positive changes to legislation from Stonewall’s 30th anniversary stories: 2 gay men open up about their experience of adoption, and 2 women speak about their marriage

Campaigns

• Read the Welsh Government press release on moving forward with a ban on conversion therapy in Wales

Inclusivity

• Read tips on trans inclusive recruitment, from TotalJobs (March 2021)
• Use name.pn, a free tool to show people how to pronounce your name and which pronouns you use

Intersectionality

• Read about the experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and People of Colour LGBT Communities, from Stonewall
• Read about the importance of visibility from 7 lesbian women via Stonewall
• Read a blog about growing up trans and asexual by Tobias Hunter, published by Stonewall

Lived Experience

• Read the blog post from the Trans and non-binary Network Group, Celebrating trans people at Citizens Advice, today and every day (March 2021)
• Read our blog post with contributions from colleagues across Citizens Advice, What Pride means to me (June 2021)
• Watch the speaker series from LGBTQ+ History Month 2022, organised by the LGBTQ+ Network Group (February 2022). You’ll need to join the LGBTQ+ Network Group Workplace page to view the videos – it’s open to all

• Listen to trans stories through the LGBT Workplace Stories series by Stonewall or Come Out for Trans Equality videos
• Listen to The Log Books, a podcast series produced by LGBTQ+ helpline Switchboard, sharing the stories of LGBTQ+ people who called the helpline dating back to 1974
• Marsha P. Johnson was a trans-rights activist who played a key role in important moments for the LGBTQ+ movement, such as the Stonewall protests. Watch The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson on Netflix to find out more

Suggested ways to continue your learning

We encourage you to continue your research beyond the resources we’ve signposted to in this guide. Please take time to look at the work that LGBTQ+ organisations are doing, use the materials they’ve published to support your learning and take action to advance Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

• Familiarise yourself with the glossary of terms from Stonewall
• Read the truth about trans, an FAQ about trans issues and experiences from Stonewall 
• My Genderation is a film project that celebrates trans lives and trans experiences
• Gender community lending library, specialises in books about transgender lives, history, and culture
• TransActual is an organisation focused on addressing and highlighting issues that affect trans people, and raising trans voices
• Read this article on Understanding Asexuality from The Trevor Project to learn about key terms and concepts

Charities that support the LGBTQ+ community

These charities support and campaign on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community on a wide range of issues. Click the name of the charity to visit their website.

• Akt – supports LGBTQ+ young people in the UK, experiencing homelessness or living in hostile environments.
• Galop UK – provides confidential and independent advice and support for LGBT+ people who have experienced sexual assault, abuse or violence.
• GIRES (Gender Identity Research and Education Society) – a volunteer operated membership charity whose purpose is to improve the lives of trans and gender diverse people of all ages.
• Gendered Intelligence – national trans-led charity, improving the lives of trans including non-binary people in the UK.
• Kaleidoscope Trust – working to uphold and advance the human rights of LGBT+ people across the Commonwealth.
• Switchboard – Switchboard is an LGBT+ helpline, there to help you with whatever you want to talk about. Nothing is off limits and conversations are 100% confidential.
• Mermaids – UK charity supporting transgender kids, young people and their families.
• MindLine Trans+ – a confidential emotional, mental health support helpline for people who identify as transgender, agender, gender fluid and non-binary. 
• Stonewall – campaigning for the equality of lesbian, gay, bi and trans people across Britain and abroad.

Contact

The national equality team can be contacted via equality@citizensadvice.org.uk