LGBT Charities vs Austerity

The LGBT community has always relied heavily on its charities, but with another bout of austerity on the cards these vital support services are coming under increasing pressure to survive. Chris Godfrey speaks to Broken Rainbow, GMFA and the Kaleidoscope Trust about the potential impact of another sustained period of government cuts.

 


As one of society’s most vulnerable groups, austerity hits LGBT people hard. There’s a reason so many LGBT-specific charities exist, tackling issues like homelessness, discrimination, sexual health and mental wellbeing.

But the last five years of government cutbacks has left many of these organisations at breaking point, and facing dwindling reserves, redundancies and a decrease to the services they provide; all against a rising tide of people turning to them. With another five years of Conservative-led austerity on the cards, the situation is about to get much worse.

Broken Rainbow runs a national helpline providing confidential support to LGBT people experiencing domestic violence. A reported one in four LGBT people experience domestic violence, and while such incidences have similarities to heterosexual cases, there are certain nuances that require specialist knowledge of the queer experience.

In 2013 Broken Rainbow took over 3,000 calls and last year they spoke to over 6,500 people.  But despite its integral importance, the unexpected conservative majority doesn’t bode well for the helpline, which was until recently funded by the Home Office.

“We already knew that if the Tories were to get in it would be a disaster for us as an organisation, in that we would potentially have to go into a commissioning process,” says Jo Barringer, Broken Rainbow’s interim managing director. Last year the charity was given an extra year’s funding from the Home Office on the understanding that there would be no more beyond that.

“We knew, come the election when there was a Tory majority, that we were facing harsh realities with regards to service provision in the future, and that potentially we’d need to completely rethink the way we do things,” says Barringer. “It could mean we can no longer run helpline, which clearly we’re doing everything we can to avoid at this point.”

“Yet there’s a significant lack of recognition from the government over the nuances of the LGBT experience.”

It’s a familiar story for GMFA. Since 2012 the gay men’s health charity has lost nearly all statutory funding and now relies on reserves and donations. As a result it’s had to make redundancies, make its magazine FS digital only, and drop some of its online services completely. Its sexual health website, which receives over 100,000 visitors a month, is currently financed through its own reserves.

“We receive so little statutory funding at the moment, so it’s not like our statutory funding could go down,” says Matthew Hodson, chief executive at GMFA, reflecting on the likely impact of yet more austerity. “The challenge is that HIV prevention funding is now the responsibility of local authorities, and local authorities obviously have very restrictive budgets, as austerity is now clearly going to continue. There’s no let up in sight.”

Austerity has already stripped GMFA of government funding, so the next five years are unlikely to impact the charity financially. But with little from the governments budget for much-needed health programmes, the work of gay health charities has become even more important, particularly where the rise in HIV transmissions is concerned. In London the budget for HIV prevention schemes has been decimated, heaping pressure on sexual health charities.

“When HIV prevention budgets drop by more than 66% over the course of a decade you have to wonder how serious a priority HIV prevention is,” says Hodson. “Sometimes it feels like we’re soldiers who are expected to go off and fight a war armed with catapults.”

With the health service budget already stretched, most government funded social programmes are designed to reach as many people as possible, providing the elusive ‘greater return on investment’. It’s a mentality that leaves LGBT-specific charities (and any organisation targeting minorities) particularly vulnerable.

“I don’t believe that it’s necessarily anti-gay prejudice that’s putting LGBT charities in such a vulnerable position,” continues Hodson. “If you’re working with a minority group, like gay men, and you’re being funded by the local authority, then the number of any minority group within that local authority is going to be much smaller.

“So I think there’s a certain argument to be made that when you’re delivering work for any minority group it makes more sense to do it across a wider geographical area, because you’re going to reach more people. But with most of the responsibility for public health now coming from local authorities, it’s a much bigger challenge.”

“As the cuts go deeper, the impact on this vulnerable sector will be more profound; more and more will find themselves needing support.”

HIV prevention is a clear example of how essential it is for programmes to specifically target the social groups most affected, with near record numbers of gay men diagnosed in the UK last year. Homelessness and domestic violence too are issues that require specialist knowledge when they concern LGBT people. Yet there’s a significant lack of recognition from the government over the nuances of the LGBT experience and the need for more relevant support services (and, more crucially, funds).

“As much as the home office support the work we do, they don’t really understand why it’s different to that of the generic domestic violence sector,” says Broken Rainbow’s Barringer. “I think LGBT issues are the first to be cut. Equalities are always the first thing to be struck off any budget training and I think that’s because of the positive strides we’ve made. People don’t think we need it – why can’t they use generic services?”

As a result LGBT charities are now competing for funds against their bigger and more dominant heterosexual counterparts.

“It’s harder and harder for LGBT charities to get money from the sector, and part of that is about the fact that people don’t understand the services that LGBT people need,” says Barringer. “Domestic violence isn’t the most sexy subject. It’s not about young people, it is about workplace issues but not the nice parts of workplace issues. So corporate funders tend not to want to get engaged with this type of work.”

While established charities struggle to maintain services, younger charities are struggling to expand.  Formed in 2011, the Kaleidoscope Trust works internationally to advance the protection and equality of LGBT people in countries where homosexuality is still criminalised. It’s an issue that regularly receives intense media coverage, with flashpoints like Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Act. But even for such a politically popular topic, it’s tough to get traction with institutional benefactors.

“We’re so well supported by individuals that that’s what’s kept us up. But it’s also kept us small,” says Felicity Daly, executive director at the Kaleidoscope Trust. “We don’t have major turnover.  To be more effective we obviously need to have a step change, and grow over the next several years.”

Finding the necessary funds to grow the charity is easier said than done. Day-to-day cooperation between charities may help promote common causes, but they’re still competing for the same donors, corporate backing and ever-dwindling government funds.

“I just think it’s a surprisingly competitive sector,” says Daly. “People who don’t work in international development charities are often shocked to see how cut throat it can be because we’re supposed to be a bunch of liberal do-gooders.”

For decades LGBT charities in all their forms have provided a much-needed safety net for one of society’s most marginalised groups. But as the cuts go deeper, the impact on this vulnerable sector will be more profound; more and more will find themselves needing support. When they do, the hope is the community’s charities are still in a position to provide it.

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