hOW TO RESPOND TO CONSULTATIONS
Author: Catherine Goodall
One of the core missions of Proud Changemakers is to drive positive change for LGBTQIA+ people and communities. A way we do this is responding to consultations that could impact on our lives, rights and experiences. Recently we have responded to two consultations, and wanted to share a few details on these processes. There are two aims in sharing - 1 to be transparent about the work we are doing behind the scenes, and 2 - to show how you can use your own voice and time to help shape change as well.
What can I do?
It’s easy to get involved. Often it takes a bit of time to go through consultations and add your views and experiences. Organisations like Stonewall, the Equality Network, and Gendered Intelligence have all recently shared simple guides on how to respond.
If you don’t have time or don’t feel able to complete a consultation yourself, you can easily share them with your networks.
Top tips
Do a skim read of the consultation. Think about how many questions it involves, and how much time you have to complete.
Start a document for yourself. Write draft answers to the questions. This is particularly helpful if you’re working with someone else on writing a response, or you want to share this with your network.
Think about what questions you can or can’t answer. You often don’t need to answer all of them. Don’t worry if you feel you can’t answer some, or you don’t have a clear idea of what alternatives look like.
Give evidence and examples where you can. Keep answers brief and to the point. Try to be balanced and fair.
Remember that the person reading the response is a human, and they likely didn’t create the consultation. Even if the consultation is proposing something actively harmful, be kind!
Why is it important?
It might seem boring or irrelevant to fill in an official consultation, but it’s actually a great example of how we can use our agency to shape our society. Consultations form a core part of developing legislation, policy and regulation.
Unfortunately, we’re increasingly seeing consultations that relate to the LGBTQIA+ community being responded to in high numbers by people who seek to remove or reduce our rights. It’s never been more important to get involved, share your views and have your voice heard. It’s an act of resistance!
What have we responded to?
We responded to the Department for Education’s consultation on Guidance for Schools and Colleges: Gender Questioning Children. We very much agree that education institutions need clear, accessible and legally compliant guidance which supports them to make good decisions for children and young people. This is a complex and contested issue, and government does urgently need to provide more guidance.
However, the proposals in this consultation were not fit for purpose, and have been widely condemned by the education sector and the LGBTQIA+ community. The Equality and Human Rights Commission shared a wide range of concerns on its legality and potential to lead to direct and indirect discrimination against children if implemented as intended. Worryingly, whilst this consultation was for non-statutory guidance and only closed in mid-March, we saw the Minister and other parliamentarians repeatedly state that they expected educational institutions to be implementing and following the guidance as soon as it was published for consultation.
We have also responded to the Scottish government’s consultation on conversion practices. Conversion practices are abhorrent, and incredibly harmful to our communities. We remain disappointed that UK government has not yet comprehensively banned these practices, which have no place in our society. The Scottish government is seeking to enact laws and policy in Scotland, and we responded to the consultation. We are broadly supportive of the proposed measures, in this careful and considered consultation. We raised points about the need for any ban or criminal measures to include trans and intersex people’s experiences. We also commented on the need for support, guidance and resource to be directed to local authorities and voluntary organisations to support LGBTQIA+ people in implementing the changes.
Support us
It’s so important that we come together as a community (including allies!) to help ensure our rights and freedoms are protected, and that decision making captures our needs and interests. We’re a new community, run by dedicated volunteers.
If you want to get more involved with us, or support us in any way, do get in touch. We welcome new volunteers, allies, funders, and supporters.
We also actively welcome feedback. If you have any thoughts or views on anything we’ve done so far, get in touch.