It’s a proven fact that people are happier and perform better when they feel free to express their true identity, whether that be their sexuality or gender identity.
It’s also known that an understanding of diversity and the issues that affect different groups can vastly improve customer service and that organisations and businesses that embrace diversity experience real world benefits.
Sophie Cook, author, campaigner and TEDx speaker has designed an LGBT Awareness course that helps your team to understand the issues faced by LGBT people. Through the use of personal stories it increases empathy helping to build an LGBT-friendly culture within your organisation.
A Hate Crime Ambassador for Sussex Police and Ambassador for Kick It Out, Sophie looks at identifying prejudice and reporting procedures, all of which help you develop a zero tolerance policy on discrimination.
The training will give your team an understanding of the legislation that protects LGBT people, and look at the variety of terminology so that no one need ever be afraid of saying the wrong thing.
Session One: LGBT101
- What is LGBT? What is LGBTQXYZ?
- Aren’t people just gay or straight?
- What’s the difference between sexuality and gender identity?
- LGBT history, what were Stonewall and Section 28?
- How many boxes? Intersectionality and diversity.
- Why do LGBT people suffer disproportionately with their mental health?
Session Two: Pride and Prejudice
- What is LGBT prejudice?
- What effect can homophobia, biphobia and transphobia have on people?
- Isn’t it just banter?
- How to combat HBT prejudice?
- How to build an inclusive organisation?
Session Three: Transgender Awareness
- The scary Transgender person the media warned you about
- Aren’t there just two genders? Intersex? Non-binary?
- How young is too young to know what your gender identity is?
- Which toilet should a trans person use? (After all everyone’s obsessed with this question.)
- What do transitioning, misgendering, passing and all of the other words I hear mean?
- How should I talk to a trans person? How should I address them?
- How does transphobia differ from homophobia?
- Misgendering is just a small thing, what effect can one word have?
- How does prejudice affect trans people’s mental health?
- What rights do trans people have? And what rights don’t they have?
Session Four: The Law
- What is the Equality Act 2010?
- What are protected characteristics?
- What classes as discrimination?
- When are there exemptions from the Equality Act?
- What’s all the fuss around the Gender Recognition Act 2004?
- How can LGBT awareness make us more effective as an organisation?
How will this training help my team?
- It will give them an understanding of LGBT terminology, helping them to feel confident speaking to diverse groups without the fear of saying the wrong thing.
- They will recognise anti-LGBT prejudice, understand the effects on LGBT people and know how to act on it.
- Have a knowledge of how the law protects LGBT people from discrimination.
- They will have the empathy and knowledge to better support LGBT colleagues and customers.
- Generally, they’ll just be lovelier, more knowledgeable people and we’ll all have a great, entertaining and productive time together.
Costs
The full programme above can be tailored around your operational requirements, full or half day, and it’s possible for multiple sessions to be provided on the same day to different team members.
Our fees operate on a sliding scale based on the size of an organisation or business and start from as little as a few hundred pounds.
Sophie also offers: