​The Equality Act 2010 identifies a variety of settings, including educational, where discrimination, harassment or victimisation on the basis of nine protected characteristics is unlawful. These protected characteristics are: age; disability; gender reassignment; marriage and civil partnership; pregnancy and maternity; race; religion or belief; sex; and sexual orientation. The Equality Act 2010 also makes it a legal duty for public sector organisations to advance equality of opportunity, and to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it.

West of Scotland Regional Equality Council's Guide to the Equality Act 2010 for Community Organisations is a helpful companion to this resource, aimed at helping organisations provide more inclusive and effective services (WSREC 2015).

How to use this exemplar

Sexuality and gender are sometimes seen as raising cultural sensitivities in migratory and intercultural contexts. Addressing these sensitivities is not only a challenge, but also an opportunity for practitioners who are inspired by principles of social justice and person-centred learning. It can create opportunities for dialogue, if underpinned by ground rules for respectful communication and openness to diversity and presented as part of a broader dialogue around equality, diversity and human rights.

Improvement questions​

• How well do you understand and challenge prejudice, discrimination and foster good relations?​
• How well do you welcome and celebrate diversity?
• How effectively do you target our work to reach those most affected by diversity issues?
• How well do you measure the impact of our work and what kind of evidence do we use in relation to equality and diversity?

Explore this exemplar

What was done?​

The resource draws on real-life stories collected for a research project on LGBT migration from Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to Scotland. For this reason, white European migrants from this region are disproportionately represented in the toolkit. This may not reflect the diversity of youth and community groups in terms of race, ethnicity, faith background or migrant status. It is hoped that youth and community practitioners may be inspired by this resource to create their own material, using different stories that better reflect the diversity of the communities they work with.​

Why was it done?

The material addresses several characteristics protected under the Equality Act 2010. It explicitly addresses sexual orientation, gender reassignment, and marriage and civil partnership. It also addresses, less explicitly, race (defined under the Equality Act 2010 as encompassing colour, nationality and ethnic/national origin).

The purpose of this resource is to:

1. Challenge prejudice and promote an understanding of the intersections between LGBT and migrant equalities.
2. Promote independent thinking and a critical approach to issues of equality and diversity.
3. Contribute to the mainstreaming of intersectional approaches to equality and diversity issues among statutory and voluntary agencies within Scotland and beyond.

What was the impact?​

This is a very new resource and therefore is seen as emerging practice. Personal experiences and storytelling are central to the material included and to the participatory methodology underpinning the resource. This approach aims to encourage empathy building and seeing the world through other people’s eyes as key to reducing prejudice and engendering individual and collective change.

Download(s)

PDF file: Engaging with LGBT and Migrant Equalities: A Youth and Community Practitioner Toolkit (4 M​B)