LGBT*

LGBT History Month – Chelsea Manning

Chelsea Elizabeth Manning is a Trans woman and a former United States Army soldier. Born Bradley Edward Manning on December 17 1987, Chelsea was convicted by court-martial on July 2013 of violations of the Espionage Act, after disclosing nearly three-quarters of a million classified or unclassified military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeak’s founder Julian Assange. In August 2013, Chelsea Manning was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment and was dishonourably discharged

2020-04-17T10:26:00+01:0010th February 2017|Blog, Equality and Diversity, LGBT History Month, LGBT*|

Mental Health within BAME and LGBT communities

To celebrate LGBT History Month, but also to acknowledge the impact of bullying and discrimination on people from LGBT communities, Touchstone chief executive Alison Lowe has written a blog on this issue. This article also appears in 2017's LGBT History Month magazine. Mental health amongst minority communities is a political as well as an ethical issue. Evidence shows that marginalised groups such as black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people,

2020-04-17T10:25:57+01:003rd February 2017|Blog, Equality and Diversity, LGBT History Month, LGBT*, Research|

Touchstone wins Employee Engagement award

On Thursday 26th January, the 2016 UK Employee Engagement Awards in association with People Insight, announced its winners - the companies that put workforce engagement at the heart of their business strategy. And, of course, Touchstone was in there, scooping the award in the Inclusion and Diversity category. We were recognised for our allies programme "Pink Pals", which involves staff throughout the organisation in supporting equality and inclusion for LGBT+ staff.

2017-01-30T15:33:49+00:0030th January 2017|Awards, Equality and Diversity, LGBT*, News|

Touchstone in Stonewall's top 100 employers for 2017

Once again, Touchstone has been placed in the Stonewall top 100 employers - highlighting out commitment to maintaining diversity and challenging prejudice. The Stonewall Top 100 Employers are the best performing employers on Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index 2017, an annual audit of workplace culture for lesbian, gay, bi and trans staff The Workplace Equality Index is free to enter for any employer Over 430 employers submitted entries to the 2017

2020-04-17T10:25:16+01:0019th January 2017|Awards, Equality and Diversity, LGBT*, News|

Transgender Day of Remembrance

20th November is Transgender Day of Remembrance - a day to look back at Trans people's struggle for acceptance and particularly to remember those who've lost their lives because of the intolerance of others. There are two remembrance services planned in Leeds for the day, one at the Leeds General Infirmary chapel from 11am to 1pm and one in Sovereign Square in the City Centre from 8pm. Research by Transgender Europe shows

2020-04-17T10:23:50+01:0017th November 2016|Blog, LGBT*, News|

Touchstone featured in Stonewall's LGBT careers guide

Touchstone is more than proud to be featured in "Starting Out" a career guide published by Stonewall for LGBT+ job seekers and graduates. For many people entering the job market, it's hard to know how open to be about their sexual orientation. However, research from Stonewall shows that workers who are comfortable to be out at work also tend to be more satisfied with their job, the support from their manager and their

2020-04-17T10:20:04+01:0031st October 2016|Diversity, Downloads, LGBT*, News, Partnership|

National Coming Out Day

Coming out - speaking the truth that we're not sure others want to hear - it's a courageous act. What reaction will we meet? Celebration, condemnation, curiosity or indifference? Will people stand by us, or will they walk away? Will we, maybe, inspire someone else to have the courage to speak their hidden truth? What we can be certain of is that the moment we stop hiding who we really

2020-04-17T10:06:22+01:0011th October 2016|Blog, LGBT*|