Wolverhampton 'Rainbow City' LGBT+ project set to go ahead

Rainbow City has been designed by City of Wolverhampton Council to help ensure people feel safe and free from hate crime and discrimination.

Members of the authority’s cabinet are being recommended to approve a commitment and action plan to help achieve that.

Feedback from the 2019 Wolverhampton LGBT+ Health Conference showed members of the community in the city suffered from mental health issues and faced hate crime offences because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Around 90 per cent of victims also revealed they did not bother reporting any incidents because they felt it wouldn’t make a difference.

Further feedback indicated LGBT+ services were difficult to find and there was a call on the council to work with partners such as NHS and businesses to champion their rights across the city.

Ideas on addressing these concerns were discussed and a public consultation was held from May to July last year.

Five themes have been put together under Rainbow City, including creating a digital offer where there is a website and single access point highlighting LGBT+ events happening in Wolverhampton.

The ‘culture and creative’ theme will see public institutions working with the community to ensure access to space and public funding to help put on dedicated LGBT+ events.

Other themes will seek to establish equal access to health services, community safety and education.

In Rainbow City Commitment, a joint statement, Councillor Paula Brookfield, cabinet member for governance and equalities, and council chief executive Tim Johnson said: “Wolverhampton is a city that is proud of its rich, diverse cultural heritage and history.

“As a local authority over the past few years, we have been on a journey, exploring what equality, diversity and inclusion means not only to us as an organisation but to our wider communities.

“As a local authority, we listen to our citizens about how our city can be more welcoming and inclusive.

“Rainbow City is first and foremost a celebration of our city’s commitment to the values of equality, diversity and inclusivity which aims, through a number of positive steps, to ensure that we treat all of our citizens with fairness, dignity and respect.

“This commitment sets out our vision for what Rainbow City will achieve, why we are taking action now, what we will deliver and how we will keep Wolverhampton residents engaged throughout.

“The work of Rainbow City so far would not have been possible without input from our key partners.

“We look forward to continuing to work with them while developing new relationships with other partners as we collectively shape our Rainbow City.”