We formed as a group of new Co-Chairs in November 2024. Since then we have managed to significantly raise the profile of our network and with support from our EDI Team, and senior leadership, significantly progress with our aim to make the council even more inclusive of LGBTQIA+ people.
We have done significant work to support Trans+ colleagues and rights, all members wanting this to be a focus due to pressure and loss of rights this part of our community is feeling. We have held a succession of events during Trans+ History Week, and Trans Awareness month. This has included organising presentations from Professor Pippa Catterall, Professor of History & Policy, University of Westminster, and hosting discussion panels with esteemed Trans+ people such as Zoe Playdon, Author and Emeritus Professor of Medical Humanities,
University of London. These events have grown in stature, with only a handful of people attending earlier events, to 60+ at our most recent. We have been and are supporting the organisations response to the Supreme Court Ruling on the definition of sex in the Equalities Act, and subsequent updated guidance from the Equalities & Human Rights Commission, working together to be as inclusive of Trans+ people as the code will allow. We updated our organisational network lanyards to the Progress Pride flag and added pronouns, again showing our commitment to Trans+ people. We have also helped the organisation work out and set up policies and procedures to assist people who transition at work, making is simpler and easier for the person to have their records changed and their authenticity respected and affirmed.
Significantly, we influenced EDI to use our network strategy for developing LGBTQIA+ inclusion as the basis for an organisational LGBTQIA+ action plan. We supported ‘Awareness to Action’ workshops with senior leadership and engaged our members to gather further insights into what the plan should contain, and helped launch the plan in July 2026.
We have presented to multiple departments within WCC, delivering information on LGBTQIA+ identities, educating colleagues on our history, gains made (and sometimes lost), and explaining what allyship looks like, to empower people to stand side-by-side with us.
In addition to our events for Trans+ people, we regularly communicate across the organisation regarding relevant dates, including Lesbian Visibility Week, Non-Binary Awareness Week, and Black Pride.
We significantly contributed to, and influenced the Public Health Departments Joint Strategic Needs Assessment questionnaire and survey, and ensured that the right questions were asked in the correct way to gather feedback from the LGBTQIA+ community.
We have provided re-writes of policies to make them more inclusive, including the ‘Transitioning At Work’ and Gynaecological & Reproductive Health’ Policies. Additionally, we have contributed insights to and reviewed LGBTQIA+ training, to ensure it captures all relevant topics in a sensitive and inclusive way.
Through our communications we have greatly increased our membership overall, and our regular social events now thrive, with many members connecting to share our experiences and provide each other with support.
At out AGM in 2026 we received significant praise from the EDI teams, and our network members, for greatly progressing equality for LGBTQIA+ people working in the council, with many expressing feeling enabled to bring their authentic selves to work.
We have worked with partner networks on shared topics. We have just held an event with the ‘Able Network’ for people with disabilities on the topic of masking. We are currently working with the ‘Global Majority Network’ to hold a joint events for Black Pride 2026.
On top of this we have also organised the council’s float and march for Pride in 2025 and 2026, which itself is a significant piece of work each year.
We have not just raised awareness regarding all LGBTQIA+ identities across the council, we have increased understanding, especially when it comes to Trans+ people. And we are only just getting started!
