WELCOME TO OUR HOW-TO GUIDE ON INVOLVING LGBT PEOPLE IN COMMUNITY PLANNING!

This guide has developed out of a needs gap in community planning.

It is the responsibility of all community planners to involve local communities as much as possible in decisions to do with their area.

This includes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people, who are in every walk of life and live in every type of community, rural or urban.

In the past and often still today, LGBT people have not been acknowledged as valuable members of their local communities, and have often felt discouraged from taking part in local community decision-making for fear that their voices are not wanted and will not be heard.

Though many community planners are already dedicated to better involving LGBT people and LGBT communities, they are often uncertain as to how to go about this.

That's where this guide comes in.

This guide aims to give you a brief introduction to some of the challenges you face in involving LGBT people, and some suggestions for overcoming these barriers. This guide has been developed in consultation with local planning departments and LGBT organisations, and it aims to provide you with an LGBT slant on the National Standards for Community Engagement, focusing in particular on practical, concrete suggestions for better engagement.