The International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia is observed on 17 May, and was created in 2004 to draw the attention of policymakers, opinion leaders, social movements, the public and the media to the violence and discrimination experienced by LGBTQI+ people internationally.
The theme for 2021 is TOGETHER: RESISTING, SUPPORTING, HEALING. This will have a resonance with staff across the NHS after our experiences over the last year, but especially with Public Health Wales which has been at the forefront of the fight against Coronavirus in Wales.
Public Health Wales has made great strides towards transforming itself into a welcoming, safe environment for LGBT+ people, and sometimes it could be easy for us to think that the work is all done and there isn’t a problem any more. But we know there is still much to be done when hate crime against LGBT+ people continues to rise both in Wales and across the UK. So the battle is not yet won, but we in PHW will continue to do what we’re doing: as our values state, “Working together with trust and respect to make a difference”.
There is a popular and active staff network at PHW for LGBT+ people, Enfys (Welsh for “rainbow”). In addition to supporting each other we raise awareness among our staff of LGBT+ issues and organise social events. All staff are welcomed to join, either as members or as allies, and are entitled to attend meetings during work hours. For IDAHOBIT 2021 we will be welcoming a speaker from Fighting with Pride (www.FightingWithPride.org.uk), to tell us about the issues facing LGBT+ service personnel and veterans.
To find out more about IDAHOBIT go to https://may17.org/about.
To find out more about Public Health Wales, the services we provide and the employment opportunities we offer, go to phw.nhs.wales.
