Blog: Connel Burnett on Imaginate's LGBT charter

3 February 2022

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In 2022 Imaginate began a journey to achieve the Silver LGBT Charter with LGBT Youth Scotland.

As an international organisation, we recognise the power, voice and opportunity we have to support those who are most in need in our society. While the values of the LGBT Charter have always been aligned with our personal values as a team, we understand that to truly and fully support this community, we need to imbed these values throughout our policies, procedures and day to day lives. As an organisation focused on producing work for children and young people we understand the power of our influence. From the work we produce, to the people we engage with, to the way in which we work, we have a privileged position to raise the voice of the LGBTQI+ community.

We will work with LGBT Youth Scotland to train our staff, review our policies and procedures, and engage with LGBTQI+ people. We are committed to holding ourselves accountable and working to become an organisation that truly has a positive impact on people’s lives.

In January, our team commenced our charter journey with a series of online training and the response has already been amazing. Many of us have learnt things we were not fully aware of and are feeling in a better position to be allies to the LGBTQI+ community. Following this training we will create an action plan to review all aspects of our organisation and ensure the voices of the LGBTQI+ community is represented.

We know this work is vital to our organisation becoming the very best it can be. We know we might not get this immediately right, but we are committed to doing this work and ensuring that people from the LGBTQI+ community feel welcome, safe and heard at Imaginate. We will always strive to do our best to ensure that this is the case. We look forward to this journey and are excited about what we will discover and who we will become as a result of it.