LGBT Action Plan

Improving the Lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People

In July 2017, the Government launched a national survey of LGBT people. The survey was open to anyone who identified as having a minority sexual orientation, gender identity or had variations in sex characteristics. It asked questions about people’s experiences of living in the UK and in accessing public services. We asked questions about education, healthcare, personal safety and employment.
The survey received more than 108,000 responses, making it the largest national survey of its kind anywhere in the world. This response was unprecedented, and it was a significant undertaking to analyse the results. We have now published the results from the national LGBT survey, and we hope that the findings will be a valuable resource, not only for government, but also for everyone working to support LGBT people.
The Government is committed to taking bold action on the results of the survey. This ‘LGBT Action Plan’ explains how we will advance the rights of LGBT people both at home and abroad and improve the way that public services work for them. Our vision is for everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity or sex characteristics, to be able to live safe, happy and healthy lives where they can be themselves without fear of discrimination.
We will establish an ‘LGBT Implementation Fund’ to deliver this action plan. The Government Equalities Office will allocate £4.5 million of funding, which will be available until the end of the Spending Review period in March 2020 and will seek additional funding in future years. This funding will be used to deliver the commitments in this plan, and enable public, private and voluntary sector organisations to deliver projects that respond to the findings from the survey.
We will ensure that LGBT people’s needs are at the heart of the National Health Service. Our survey showed that LGBT people feel their specific needs go unaddressed when accessing healthcare. We will appoint a National Adviser to provide leadership on reducing the heath inequalities that LGBT people face, and we will seek to establish a more modern care model for adult gender identity services in England.
We will act so that every child and young person feels safe in education and can achieve their potential. Our survey found that our education system is not preparing LGBT young people for later life, and that homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying is a problem we still need to tackle. We will continue to invest in programmes that tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools, and ensure that the new subjects of Relationships Education, and Relationships and Sex Education will support pupils, whatever their developing sexual orientation or gender identity.
We will act so that LGBT people feel safe in their own homes and in their communities. Our survey shows that many LGBT people do not report hate incidents they experience and that the abhorrent practice of conversion therapy is still alive in our country. We will bring forward proposals to end the practice of conversion therapy in the UK and take further action on hate crime as part of our upcoming refresh of the 2016 Hate Crime Action Plan.
We will ensure transgender people are treated with dignity and respect. Our survey showed dissatisfaction with the gender recognition process. We will immediately consult on reforming the Gender Recognition Act 2004 and consider how best to make the gender recognition process less bureaucratic and intrusive.
We will improve our understanding of the issues faced by people who identify as non-binary and people who are intersex. Our survey gave us new insight into the experiences of these groups, but we have more to learn. We will launch separate Calls for Evidence on the issues faced by non-binary and intersex people.
We will trial innovative ways of tackling deep-seated prejudices in our communities. Our survey showed that many LGBT people are not comfortable with the simple act of holding their partner’s hand in front of others. We will work across the public, private and voluntary sectors to improve the representation of LGBT people in public life, championing role models and giving people the confidence to be themselves in public.
We will deliver the commitments set out in this document by the end of this Parliament. We will listen to the needs of LGBT people and the LGBT sector organisations that support them as we deliver this plan and establish a new LGBT Advisory Panel to guide our work and hold us to account. We will also provide regular updates to Parliament on our progress.
Whilst this is a national action plan, it covers some policy areas that are devolved. It will have varying levels of effect across the four nations of the UK, owing to existing devolution arrangements.
Everyone in this country should feel safe and happy to be who they are, and to love who they love, without judgement or fear. All people, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation, should be supported to reach their full potential. This action plan sets out the ways in which the Government hopes to move closer to that goal.