In support of Black Lives Matter

Our Board of Directors stand with the Black Lives Matter movement. We understand that the death of George Floyd is not an isolated incident. There exists in the U.S. a long history of systemic racism, ethnically charged policing and evidence of police brutality. We are inspired by the global support behind the movement that has emerged in the past few weeks. We know Scotland is not exempt and that we have work to do in eradicating racism while acknowledging our racist history.

The fight against oppression has historically been intersectional, with groups across race, class, gender and sexuality showing up to support one another. Notably, Black trans women and sex workers who initiated the Stonewall riots back in 1969 and paved the way for many of the rights we celebrate today.  The LGBTQ+ community has much to thank Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) for and we take this opportunity during Pride month to say thank you.

The Board has seen LGBT Health and Wellbeing’s staff and community members react quickly to organise and mobilise with events such as Queers in support of Black Lives Matter with the highest engagement seen on one of our Facebook events on this online event page.  As we have seen throughout this Covid19 crisis, it is clear that our community is looking out for each other.

As a Board, we are not representative of the population we represent, and we recognise our responsibilities to do better; including within our upcoming Board recruitment strategy to attempt to expand the diversity of our Board Members. Whilst we are keen to welcome and diversify our Board, we recognise that, in any event, we have an individual and collective responsibility to educate ourselves and facilitate learning within our community. We must be explicit about our stance on anti-racism. This is not the individual responsibility of any one member. Collectively we must use our platform within the LGBT+ community to make structural change. This is a responsibility that White and White-passing people are required to take on and challenge that we, as a Board of Directors, welcome.

LGBT Health and Wellbeing
Board of Trustees