NATFHE does not yet monitor for sexual orientation, so we have no way of knowing how many of our members are lesbians, gay men, bisexual or transgendered. If our membership reflects the population at large, we might guess at 10%.

NATFHE’s National Executive Council has a reserved seat for a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered (LGBT) member. This seat is currently held by Alan Whitaker .

Alan is also the Chair of the Lesbian and Gay Group of the Equality Advisory Council.

See Publications for issues that might be of interest to you. In particular Lesbian And Gay Rights At Work has been recently updated, and you can download it as a pdf file.

If you do not currently receive Equality News at home, this means your name is not on our LGBT Network. If you wish to be added, and thus receive the newsletter and any information on issues and events of special interest to LGBT members, contact Equality Unit). Confidentiality guaranteed, if required.

We would like to see the LGBT Network operating locally again. If you feel able to organise a gathering of LGBT NATFHE members in your area, contact Equality Unit).

Unlike women, black people and people with disabilities, lesbians and gay men have no specific legal protection and thus no government commission to defend their rights. Until that changes, the website you will probably find most useful is that of Stonewall.

NATFHE is working closely with Stonewall and the TUC to ensure that when legislation finally comes in 2003, it is as good as possible.

New legislation, providing for the first time, employment protection on the grounds of sexual orientation came into force on 1 December 2003. See the December 2003 issue of Equality News (pdf file) for more information. See also the Joint Policy Statement on equality for LGBT staff and students (Word doc) and check the Equality Publications page for new publications.

There is no government minister with specific responsibility for LGBT issues, but there is a Minister and Deputy Minister with responsibility for Women and Equality. Check the Ministers page on the Department of Trade and Industry website to find the identity of the current minister.