How to engage gay people in your work

Research clearly demonstrates that lesbian, gay and bisexual people want to be treated with dignity and respect across Britain’s public services. However, even in the second decade of the twenty-first century, many organisations have not begun to address the specific requirements of gay people in the services they deliver. As a result, many of Britain’s 3.7 million gay people still expect inappropriate services from public bodies and remain less likely to engage with civil society – for example, by seeking to become school governors or local councillors. New provisions in the Equality Act 2010, which Stonewall campaigned hard for, place a groundbreaking responsibility on public bodies to demonstrate how they have enabled lesbian, gay and bisexual people to engage with the development and delivery of such services. Local citizens are now encouraged, rightly, to hold public bodies to account in ensuring that their services better reflect and respond to the lived experiences of those who pay for them. This guide provides practical advice on how to engage lesbian, gay and bisexual people in decision-making about local services in costeffective and appropriate ways. It’s based on in-depth research both with organisations that have already begun to involve local people in their work and with service-users themselves. It is informed throughout by our firm view that the most efficient public services are those which best understand the needs of the people they serve.