Fife LGBT Community Needs Assessment

A joint report gathering the main research in relation to the mental health inequalities experienced by LGBTI adults and young people, the key causes for these inequalities and makes recommendations for improving the mental health of LGBTI populations in a Scottish context.

In recent years considerable progress has been made towards achieving greater legal and social equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. However, we know that LGBT people across Scotland continue to face inequality in their everyday lives.

The Fife LGBT Community Needs Assessment Report is the most comprehensive research to date of the experience of LGBT people in Fife. The Report presents the findings from a survey of 148 LGBT people living in Fife, as well as from in–depth interviews with 12 individuals. Where relevant, these findings are reported alongside those from the Scottish LGBT Equality Report, to provide a national context and enable a comparator between the experience of LGBT people living in Fife and those living in other parts of the country.

The report reveals the extent to which LGBT people in Fife are often still not able to live openly and feel comfortable and safe to be themselves. It highlightshow thedearth of LGBT–specific social activities andvenues in much of Fife,which severely limits the opportunity to connect with peers, can contribute to isolation and negatively impact on health and wellbeing.

The report also looks at LGBT people’s experience of services in Fife, and highlights significant disadvantage when using health and support services, with needs often not recognised or met. The report findings point to a strong need for LGBT–specific information and support in Fife, as well as significant scope for mainstream services to become better informed and more LGBT–friendly.

A summary of the report is available here.

Download file