The nominees for the PinkNews Third Sector Equality Award are…
The fifth annual PinkNews Awards will take place on 18 October, and PinkNews is delighted to unveil the shortlisted nominees in all awards categories.
The awards will take place on 18 October from 6.30pm at a central London location.
It will celebrate the contributions of politicians, businesses, campaigners and community groups to improving LGBT+ life in the UK and beyond.
A new category this year is the Third Sector Equality award which celebrates the contribution of third sector organisations towards achieving equality.
Use the link below to vote for your favourites
Check out the list of nominees in this category below:
Amnesty International
Amnesty International UK has a robust equality and diversity policy and isn’t afraid to enforce it where necessary. The needs and concerns of staff are engaged with and acted upon by the organisation’s Equalities and Diversities working group. Gender-neutral facilities are being rolled out to better serve all staff.
Amnesty serves the LGBT community in all its outward work based on a belief that human rights necessarily precludes any discrimination or subjugation of LGBT people. A number of LGBT specific workstreams and forums including an LGBT network highlight and enhance campaigns on LGBT rights.
Amnesty defends and promotes LGBT rights around the world. Examples include fighting the anti-gay purge in Chechnya to supporting Prides around the world. It also works on LGBT rights in Russia, Turkey, Taiwan and Japan as well as campaigns in the UK and the rest of Europe.
Barnardo’s
Barnardo’s puts equality and inclusion at the heart of everything it does, from the way it supports children and young people to who works or volunteers for the charity. Building a diverse Barnardo’s is a core part of its ten year corporate strategy (2016-2025).
The charity is actively working to create a workforce that is inclusive of LGBT staff and volunteers in order to understand and respond to the needs of LGBT young people and to increase LGBT awareness. Barnardo’s led campaigning for LGBT fostering and adoption and for around 20 years has helped many children to thrive in loving, safe family environments.
Its wide range of services to support LGBT young people includes the Positive Identities service that supports young people struggling with sexual orientation and gender identities. Its Department of Education-funded anti-bullying training programme challenges the attitudes and behaviour in schools, families, faith and wider communities towards LGBT people.
Safezone training has made Barnardo’s and its services welcoming places for LGBT people and has been rolled out to GP practices, health services, youth services and schools. With a network of over 400 Barnardo’s staff who are LGBT ‘allies’, the charity clearly signals its inclusion for LGBT staff, volunteers and service users.
National Union of Students (NUS)
The National Union of Students promotes liberation at the heart of the organisation and inducts all new joiners with this policy in mind. The NUS HR Policy includes the code of conduct and expectations of staff, volunteers and the NUS as an organisation and specifically a policy against homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and any other form of discrimination, harassment or bullying.
The Liberation department includes LGBT Campaign resources, toolkits and materials, and regularly holds events. Staff as well as NUS members benefit from the events, as well as celebrations of LGBT History Month, IDAHOBIT, World AIDS Day and other LGBT specific days.
The NUS raises money for LGBT charities and works with LGBT partners, and campaigns from the union have also lobbied the government on issues from same-sex marriage to the blood ban.
Toolkits, workshops, briefings and reports from NUS members are released every year. These look at LGBT representation in further education, an LGBT History Month Timeline, Campaign and events guide, a bi-inclusivity toolkit, gender-neutral bathrooms toolkit, World AIDS Day information and more.
National Theatre
The National Theatre wants to represent the diversity of the UK on its stages, in its audiences and in its workforce. In 2016 they launched a diversity strategy to help them to achieve their ambitions.
This year they produced Angels in America, with Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, Russell Tovey and Denise Gough in the cast. This production was the fastest-selling show in NT history and was broadcast right across the UK and around the world as part of National Theatre Live, and will transfer to Broadway in early 2018.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in England and Wales, the NT hosted a series of films, exhibitions, discussions, and rehearsed readings which explored LGBT+ lives and issues. The rehearsed readings included Bent, directed by Stephen Daldry, Wig Out starring, written and directed by Tarell Alvin McCraney, the Oscar-winning writer of Moonlight, and the rarely-performed play The Drag, written by Mae West in 1927.
Twelfth Night featured a gender-swapped Malvolia, played by Tamsin Greig, and the NT’s annual free, outdoor summer festival, River Stage, was opened triumphantly by The Glory, the Queer alternative East End pub and performance Mecca.
The Learning programme at the NT also addresses LGBT+ issues, with plays for young people as part of Connections, the annual festival of new writing for youth theatres and schools.
For their staff, the NT has created an LGBT+ staff network, and hosts an ongoing series of diversity-related discussions open to all, called We Need To Talk which have included a number of discussions about LGBT+ themes.
A program of talks and discussions also took place alongside Angels in America, and other shows like Twelfth Night featured gender-flipped roles. Historically the NT has produced shows like Bent, Wig Out and the Drag. These are enhanced by platform performances and the NT Learning department’s program.
St Mungo’s
Homelessness charity St Mungo’s has inclusion as one of its five core values and considers diversity and inclusion fundamental in achieving its vision that everyone has a place to call home and can fulfil their hopes and ambitions. St Mungo’s 2015-18 D&I strategy From Equality to Inclusion aims to promote a genuinely inclusive environment where everyone feels they belong.
A Diversity and Inclusion Steering Group leads on the strategy; its members include representatives of seven staff diversity networks from across St Mungo’s and three members of the Executive team.
Managers have mandatory face-to-face D&I training, including elements on LGBT inclusive practice. This training is co-produced and co-facilitated by members of the St Mungo’s staff diversity networks. which is reviewed by Stonewall. All staff also undertake mandatory e-learning which covers LGBT inclusion-specific topics. Individual elements include trans awareness, sexuality and mental health.
An internal mentoring scheme supports LGBT staff and developmental training is promoted in the seven diversity networks including the LGBT Network. The Network also has a budget to attend external events such as the Stonewall Conference, and to support St Mungo’s clients to attend Pride events, which they have done this year in London, Brighton and Bristol.
In addition, staff are encouraged to get involved with the active LGBT Network which provides support, advice and best practice to LGBT staff and allies. St Mungo’s has marked LGBT events like IDAHOBIT, Trans Day of Visibility and Bi Visibility Day, among others, across the organisation with events, blogs and talks.
Tate Galleries
Tate is on a journey to embedding diversity and inclusion in every corner of the organisation. There has been a commitment and focus on LGBT employees in recent years. The Diversity and Inclusion Strategy Tate for All starts at the top with leadership, and the board is tasked with making the organisation best serve its LGBT employees. Internal communications including a Dignity and Respect at Work policy act as a guide for management to ensure that all venues are safe spaces for staff and the public.
Tate works with Stonewall to ensure that training, procurement, policy and community engagement, and to benefit LGBT employees. This has led to an increased investment in training.
Analysis systems, Diversity Champions, a Diversity and Inclusion Manager, Welfare Officer, and Diversity Champions are all mechanisms in place for reporting, supporting and ensuring the welfare of LGBT employees.
A staff LGBT Network brings colleagues together for development, support and to provide a voice within Tate. Outwardly, exhibitions like Queer British Art 1861-1967 prove a commitment to LGBT representation in all ways as well as marking LGBT History Month, IDAHOBIT and Pride.
Click here for the form to vote for your favourites for the PinkNews Awards 2017
The PinkNews Awards is generously supported by Lloyds Banking Group
