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In 2022, we reviewed and refreshed the University’s existing LGBT+ inclusion work to address the challenges experienced by LGBT+ students and staff. A particular goal was to ensure our LGBT+ work is fully inclusive of the student community and aligned with the work of Student Services and the Students’ Union. We also sought to ensure that our LGBT+ work is tailored to our higher education context, and to help with this we engaged with key student and staff stakeholders from across the University. This has culminated in a new LGBT+ Equality Action Plan. February 2023 marks the launch of this Action Plan. We widely use the TUoS acronym instead of The University of Sheffield throughout the plan.
Anchoring the Action Plan are four mutually reinforcing objectives which strive to raise awareness and understanding of the rich diversity of lived experiences of all our LGBT+ students and staff, and to improve their representation, progression, retention, experiences and success. Consistent with the One University pillar of the University Vision, it seeks to unlock the potential of all LGBT+ students and staff, where everyone is empowered to bring their whole and authentic selves to their studies or work.
The Action Plan outlines high level actions designed to improve how our systems, processes, policies and practices can support our LGBT+ community to live their lives to the full and to flourish through every aspect of their association with the University. It is intended to be a living document, which will be reviewed and updated over time as we learn from experience, from our LGBT+ community, from our LGBT+ experts and others at the vanguard of LGBT+ inclusion.
Implementation of the Action Plan is led by the LGBT+ Equality Delivery Group, comprising senior stakeholders accountable for the progress and delivery of actions, reporting to the University's Equality Diversity & Inclusion Committee. The Delivery Group is supported by an Advisory Group, which is made up of student and staff stakeholders with lived experience and/or expertise.
For the LGBT+ community, language is a powerful way of expressing and communicating sexual orientations and/or gender identities. The term “LGBT+” is used in this Action Plan to refer to people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, and those who identify with any other diverse sexual or gender identity, which includes but is not limited to asexual, bi-gender, pansexual, gender fluid, non-binary and queer. Language is ever-changing and it is important for us to continually review the terms we use in a spirit of curiosity and with the courage to learn.