Volunteering magazine, January 2005, Issue 103
www.volunteering.org.uk/magazine
Gay culture has been embraced by the mainstream.
By Tom Grealy
Graham Norton's on primetime telly. Clare Balding fronted the Beebs Olympic coverage. Transsexual Nadia won the last Big Brother. Surely no right-thinking person expresses homophobic views any more so why should it be an issue as far as volunteering is concerned?
Welcoming lesbian and gay volunteers into your organisation
There may have been recent moves to end some of the legal discrimination but lesbians and gay men still endure widespread discrimination, harassment and prejudice. The recent murder of a gay man on Londons South Bank is just one of a spate of unprovoked violent attacks and, according to a survey of Britains police forces carried out by the Independent on Sunday, homophobic hate crime has risen by 23 per cent in the last year.
So it may feel like weve come a long way but there are still plenty of reasons why lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people may be wary of volunteering for your organisation unless you positively show that you want to include them. LGBT volunteers may be unsure of their welcome if they are open about their sexuality. They may fear confidentiality wont be kept. They may hear other staff, volunteers or clients in the organisation make homophobic or crass and ignorant comments which go unchallenged.
Welcoming gay volunteers
- Review your equal opportunities or diversity policy to ensure it makes a positive statement that everyones signed up to and then put the policy on display. Talk it through with volunteers in terms of what the policy actually means in terms of the day to day life of the organisation.
- Produce positive images as part of your publicity which show lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
- Advertise for volunteers in the lesbian and gay press, e.g. the Pink Paper, Gay Times, Diva.
- Deal promptly with any reported discrimination in your organisation. Have a clear policy volunteers can follow (VEs Information Team can offer guidance on this and other policies call 0800 028 3304 or email information@volunteeringengland.org for details).
- Have posters and information from LGBT groups in your offices.
Avoid jumping to conclusions
Dont rely on your gaydar to tell you when someone is lesbian or gay. If youre a local volunteer development agency make sure you offer all opportunities, including LGBT ones, to everyone.
In the past some bureaux in rural communities have argued that LGBT issues dont affect them because there arent any lesbian and gay men in their area. Gay people may be less obvious in rural areas but this doesnt mean that everyone in the countryside is straight!
Similarly, dont assume that anyone who looks like they might be gay will automatically want to volunteer for an LGBT organisation. Whilst research into LGBT volunteers in Brighton (see below) revealed a preference for volunteering within gay identified organisations, many respondents also volunteered for community organisations. Some respondents specifically preferred this kind of volunteering as they were more motivated by the issues in question, wanted to work within mainstream society or wished to avoid gay politics.
I would rather do things that Im comfortable with, even if its not in an LGBT environment. After all, if gay people only do things in an LGBT environment, how are other people ever going to learn about LGBT issues?
Lets Give Brighton Time
Tom Grealy reports back on a campaign to increase volunteering amongst the LGBT community in Brighton
What do gay people want from volunteering and why do they get involved? With little existing research available on gay volunteering, Get Active, the Active Communities Demonstration Project in Brighton, decided to find out for itself. At the end of 2001, it commissioned Gay & Lesbian Arts & Media (GLAM) to investigate the volunteering practices amongst the LGBT communities.
The positive news was the amount of volunteering undertaken by members of the LGBT community and the considerable personal, practical and professional benefits people gained from their voluntary activities Im truly shocked by how much Ive gained from volunteering was one typical comment.
Unfortunately however, in depth interviews showed that there were still barriers to LGBT people volunteering in mainstream organisations. These included:
- Homophobia: whether experienced personally or directed at others, whether from individuals or institutions, and whether in the form of hate crime or undermining little digs
- Commitment to equal opportunities: LGBT respondents rarely choose groups that do not demonstrate a strong commitment to diversity, and do not back this up with written policies and regular training.
- Not fitting in: both in terms of the feel of the organisation and the attitudes of other volunteers and staff, such as being under pressure to come out or to be a spokesperson about gay issues.
The research found that the Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) communities were less supported than other communities and needed additional focus to raise the profile of volunteering. From this GET ACTIVE worked with representatives of the local LGBT community and a local PR company to try to develop and promote volunteering amongst the LGBT communities. The aim was to reach as wide an audience as possible scene and non-scene and including marginalised groups.
We adopted the slogan Lets Give Brighton Time and launched the campaign to coincide with VFair 2002 and National Volunteers Week. We developed media partnerships with local LGBT and mainstream media 3SIXTY, G-Scene and The Argus who helped promote a positive and appealing image of volunteering by publishing the findings of the GLAM research and a series of articles on volunteering over a two month period. We also ran adverts promoting volunteering in LGBT specific magazines.
In addition, a series of posters, leaflets and cards were produced, as well as thousands of rainbow coloured sticks of Brighton rock which carried the contact details of the Brighton & Hove Volunteer Bureau. These were distributed to libraries, community centres, LGBT pubs and clubs, and at events like PRIDE.
Other than being instrumental in recruiting 34 volunteers to support PRIDE, unfortunately there was no process in place for monitoring the numbers of new LGBT volunteers generated by the campaign. However the number of people enquiring about volunteering through the Brighton & Hove Volunteer Bureau in 2002 showed an increase of over 40% on the previous year.
Tom Grealy
Manager Brighton & Hove Volunteer Bureau (2001-March 2004)
The information in this article was provided by members of a LGBT special interest group set up by the National Association of Volunteer Bureaux (now part of Volunteering England). The groups aim was to raise awareness throughout the network of the needs of lesbian and gay volunteers, and to encourage Volunteer Bureaux to become aware of, and make contact with, local lesbian and gay organisations.
If you would like advice or information on making your service more accessible to LGBT volunteers, members of the former NAVB group have generously volunteered to act as a resource. Please contact: Mary.benton@cvalive.org.uk; tgrealy@hull-cvs.co.uk (Tom Grealy); jamesb@richmondcvs.org.uk (James Banks); MVBManager@aol.com (Tessa Willow)
