The EU DIAL funded ‘Comparing Intersectional Lifecourse Inequalities among LGBTQI+ Citizens in Four European Countries’ (CILIA-LGBTQI+) project examines intersectional inequalities and their impacts upon lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) citizens in four European countries (England, Germany, Portugal, Scotland). We are concerned with inequalities at key points of life transition, including school to work, employment progression in mid-life, and the transition into retirement and later life. Drawing upon interviews and secondary analysis, this policy brief reflects on the findings from the CILIA-LGBTQI+ research conducted in Scotland.
Key points
- Differences within LGBTQI+ communities map onto inequalities experienced across the lifecourse. Attending to intersecting inequalities needs to become a policy priority across e.g. health and social care, education, employment, and justice.
- Interviewees across the age-range reported similar experiences suggestive of generational continuations, rather than generational change.
- Despite legal progress and equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives, policy-practice development at national and local levels can be uneven and may lack monitoring, consolidation and mainstreaming. Lived experience of inequalities may contradict equality policy-practice provisions.
- Current funding structures and resourcing for LGBTQI+ organisations, programmes and projects potentially render the commencement or continuation of equalities work vulnerable.
- Past experiences of inequality and discrimination continue to impact upon LGBTQI+ citizens’ present lives and thoughts about the future.