LGBT Tees Valley & East Durham Forum
The Vision
To celebrate diversity ensuring Tees Valley & East Durham is a place where LGBTQ+ members of society feel valued, have equal rights and are empowered to reach their optimum potential.
Purpose of the forum
To create a society within Teesside, that is inclusive to LGBTQ+ people, in doing so LGBTQ+ people are given equal life chances and have services available to them that can meet their needs. It is acknowledged that we can not fill the gaps in services without key forum members from mainstream services. These members will provide the vehicle for change, within area of health, education, hate crime, same sex domestic abuse, community cohesion, poverty and financial inclusion.
The Tees Valley LGBTQ+ forum has been established to meet the requirements of the above stated vision and this will be achieved by the agreement and implementation of the Tees Valley LGBTQ+ action plan.
Objectives
- Develop and implement the Tees Valley LGBTQ+ Strategic Action Plan.
- To add value to the work already carried out in the community and not duplicate existing services.
- Promote networking and sharing of ideas and information in relation to priority concerns affecting the LGBTQ+ community.
- To educate and disseminate information in relation to the priority concerns identified by the LGBTQ+ community.
- To serve as a means of communication to the wider community.
- To serve as point of contact for LGBTQ+ issues raised in the wider community which can then be fed back to statutory partners.
Tees Valley LGBTQ+ Action Plan
The action plan will agree actions around the following priority aims:
- Ensure a zero-tolerance approach to hate crime against the LGBTQ+ community.
- Improve reporting of hate crime incidents and ensure appropriate support is available.
- Improve awareness and support for individuals seeking asylum because of global hate.
- Reduce incidents of same-sex domestic abuse.
- Improve reporting of same-sex domestic abuse and violence, ensuring victims feel supported and can access the appropriate services.
- Improve financial inclusion/financial resilience of the LGBTQ+ community.
- Improve services to meet the needs of young LGBTQ+ people.
- Improve services for family members of LGBTQ+ people.
- Ensure the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community is reflected in the prioritising of health care services throughout Teesside.
- Improve mental health and wellbeing of all LGBTQ+ community members.
- Improve awareness of the issues faced by the LGBTQ+ community, thus reducing incidents of intolerance and stigma at work, at home and in the community, promoting a socially inclusive community.
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