NFP recognised for gay & transgender workforce inclusion

Social justice and community services organisation UnitingCare Ageing has been recognised for achievement in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex workplace inclusion at the ‘Pride in Diversity’ Awards in Sydney this month.

UnitingCare Ageing was the first recipient of the award in the new category of Not for Profit lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex inclusion (GBTI) Workplace Inclusion Award.

The awards were determined using Pride in Diversity’s’ Australian Workplace Equality Index.
UnitingCare Ageing Director Steve Teulan said the organisation was proud to receive the award.

“UnitingCare has a deep commitment to social equality and last year we appointed a LGBTI Project Officer to reach out to older people from the LGBTI communities to help the organisation better meet their needs and to also promote cultural awareness among our staff,” he said.

“We are now recruiting ‘LGBTI Champions’ throughout the organisation and we have already had enthusiastic staff register their interest.

“Partnerships with LBGTI health and community service organisations have been vital in beginning to break the barriers of concern by the LGBTI community in dealing with faith-based organisations and accessing community and health care services and we look forward to building on this.

“We have a real opportunity to give a voice to the needs of this community as well as creating opportunities for improvements in our own service delivery and employment practises.”

UnitingCare NSW and ACT is a social justice and community services arm of the Uniting Church, motivated by a commitment to build a more just, compassionate and fair society.

Pride in Diversity is a Not for Profit workplace program designed to assist Australian employers with the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees.

Pride In Diversity Program Director Dawn Hough said the awards provided a valuable platform for organisations to highlight the quality of their LGBTI workplace diversity practices as well as providing a national benchmark on what organisations are doing in this space.

“Pride In Diversity congratulates all the organisations recognised today on their significant achievement and for showing great leadership in the area of diversity and inclusion,” she said.