Page 42 - Fyne winter 2014

Austerity is bad for LGBTs too: the facts
“Over many decades, our LGBT
voluntary sector has helped thousands
of people cope with the consequences
of popular ignorance, prejudice and
discrimination. Surveys such as British
Social Attitudes have confirmed that
despite all the fantastic progress that
has been made and the positive effect
of new laws that have removed most
of the legal inequalities that made us
second-class citizens, a large minority
of British people still hold prejudices
against us.
Our voluntary sector is now on the edge
of a cliff: with politicians promising
(threatening?) another five years of
austerity, its survival is at severe risk.
These are the findings of a survey
carried out by researchers at London
Metropolitan University on behalf of
the TUC (Trades Union Congress)
and published in the summer of 2014.
More than 180 LGBT community and
voluntary groups were asked about
their finances and their work, how
they had coped with the impact of
austerity policies over the last four
years, and what they expected to
happen in the future.
The claim from those who have never
supported our right to be treated
as equals is that LGBT people are
being treated better than the rest of
society. The truth is that the LGBT
voluntary sector has been receiving
just 0.04 per cent of the funding. By
anyone’s estimate of the numbers
of LGBT people, that figure is
disproportionately small. But because
it has traditionally been harder for
LGBT organisations to raise money
from the usual charitable sources, the
sector has been disproportionately
reliant on resources provided by
statutory bodies such as central and
local government and the health
service: the same people who have
suffered year on year of funding cuts.
Staying Alive shows that LGBT
community groups have survived by
reducing their staffing levels, replacing
experienced paid workers with
volunteers, diverting resources to fund-
raising, and merging their specialist
service into larger, more generalist
provision. Many face a deeply worrying
future with the next round of cuts due
in April 2015.
What are the consequences?
Young people thrown out by
homophobic parents are already at
greater risk of homelessness because
of the crisis of housing everywhere,
but especially in the same cities where
young people tend to seek a better
life and the support of a visible LGBT
community. The specialist services that
offer them support are at risk.
Hate crime against LGB and T people,
especially trans, people – is running
at a high level. Many of the victims
are reluctant to report to the police.
And not only are police hate crime
units being forced to cut back on
specialist provision, the community
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