Consortium is proud to be the umbrella body for an inclusive and diverse LGBT+ sector across the UK. Trans+ organisations are an important and integral part of our voluntary and community sector and have faced untold inequalities across all areas of their work, as highlighted through the collaborative together. campaign late last year. Consortium and its Trans Organisations Network want to re-affirm our commitment to championing the full diversity of LGBT+ communities and organisations and continued support for a united LGBT+ sector.
At our AGM in November 2020, Consortium’s Board of Trustees sought Member approval for our Membership Values and Principles policy. Ordinarily, this policy would be approved internally but Consortium’s Board of Trustees wanted to take this as an opportunity to seek member mandate for our approach to equity and inclusion—particularly that we are an umbrella body that promotes active Trans + community inclusion.
We are acutely aware that recent developments have caused fear and alarm across our Trans+ and LGBT+ communities. Consortium has already been in open dialogue with the Charity Commission in England and Wales with a view to ensuring they better understand the toxic environment both Trans + and LGBT+ organisations find themselves working within, all whilst they work to improve the lives of the most marginalised and vulnerable in our communities. We will continue to liaise with them, using this an opportunity to highlight community concerns and to ensure they uphold their required regulatory functions, which must ensure no one in our communities faces the prospect of having their identities erased.
We encourage our members, our allies and their own stakeholders to take care of themselves and each other and to stand #TogetherWithTrans. We are stronger together and Consortium will do all it can to protect, defend and promote the amazing life-saving work taking place across our LGBT+ voluntary and community sector.