How Equal Are We?

This week, it has been 10 years since the government released The Equality Act and 12 years since the Sex Discrimination Act, but figures show that we may not be as equal as society would lead us to believe.

In 2017, 2 in 5 people experienced harassment or physical violence because they were LGBTQ+ and 9 out of 10 went unreported, according to government figures, and numbers have been rising since. So how equal are we and why is a statute, which claims to protect people regardless of "Age, Sex, Gender Reassignment, Disability, Pregnancy and Maternity, Marriage and Civil Partnerships, Race, Religion or Belief and Sexual Orientation", not doing enough to protect people both in the work place and generally in our communities?

With some politicians, most notably Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, planning to scrap the Gender Recognition Act, people from the LGBTQ+ community need help and support where we live, more than we may realize.

Galop, the only UK specialist LGBT+ anti-violence charity, found that with the rise of social media usage, the rise in hate crime has also dramatically increased, finding that 80% of LGBTQ+ respondents had experienced hate crime online in the last 5 years. The trans community, who are the worst affected by hate crimes, are one of the LGBTQ+ groups which are being discriminated against, evident in their continual decline in employment figures and rise in experiencing hate.

So what can you do? With residents in the LGBTQ+ community feeling "threatened, insecure and unprotected", the best and easiest ways to be an ally are:

- To Listen

- Be open minded

- Confront others (and yourself) about slurs and comments which can offend others.

- Ask Questions and Research

And if you are suffering from any forms of abuse or harassment, don't be afraid to report it to the police or and LGBTQ+ charities, such as the LGTB Foundation and Galop, or even employers or trusted people of authority in your establishment.