Equality, Diversity & Inclusion
Just another University of Greenwich blog
The Women’s Institute is featuring a trans woman member on the cover of its magazine for the first time.
Petra Wenham, a member of Cake and Revolution WI in Suffolk, appears on the July/August issue of WI Life, the organisation’s membership magazine.
She said she felt “accepted and honoured” to be on a platform to raise awareness of transgender issues.
Cake and Revolution said Ms Wenham “deserves to be acknowledged and celebrated”. More
We’re celebrating trans and gender non-conforming people by raising awareness and increasing visibility. You can get involved by joining the events and showing your support in practical ways. Find out here
20 November is Transgender Day of Remembrance and with that in mind we have chosen Annie Wallace as our Diversity Champion of the Month.
Annie is an actor from Aberdeen. A former National Youth Theatre member, she graduated from the Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre in 2004 and has appeared in many theatre productions. As well as being a performer, Annie writes and records music and is a skilled sound recordist and designer.
Annie is a patron of Mermaids a charity supporting trans and gender diverse children, young people and their families. Mermaids started small but has now evolved into one of the UK’s leading LGBTQ+ charities.
On 29 October 2015, Annie made history by becoming the first transgender person to play a regular transgender character in a British soap opera when she debuted as school headteacher, Sally St. Claire in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks.
Since starting in Hollyoaks, she has been regularly listed in the prestigious Rainbow List, Pride Power List, Diva Power List, and the USA OUT100, as one of the country’s most influential LGBT people.
She is a staunch supporter of transgender children, young people and their families. Her advocacy has seen her appear on Celebrity Mastermind, with Mermaids as her charity of choice.
To find out more about Annie see here
To find out more about Mermaids see here
To find out more about Transgender Day of Remembrance see here https://www.awarenessdays.com/awareness-days-calendar/transgender-day-of-rembrance-2020/
Our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan set out how we will provide an environment where you can flourish and achieve your full potential.
We want to see the university reflect the diversity of the community we serve. To help us achieve this we are launching the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy 2019-22, along with our Action Plan.
The key aims of the EDI strategy are:
We see diversity as a strength which should be encouraged, celebrated and promoted across our staff and student communities.
To find out more about the actions we will take view the full strategy and action plan.
During November Transgender Awareness Week takes place week beginning on the 12th finishing with Transgender Day of Remembrance on the 19th. With this in mind we have chosen Ash Palmisciano as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.
Ash is an actor and is best known for playing Matty Barton in Emmerdale. He is the first transgender actor to play a transgender character in the soap.
Ash was initially an adviser on the storyline working with the charity ‘All About Trans’ whose work relates to achieving positive representations in the media of trans people. However during the time he was on the set he was invited to audition for the part and was offered the role.
Ash thought that as he has a similar background to the character he could really empathise with his character, but also, as an actor, it was a fantastic first job to work on a soap like Emmerdale.
He is also hoping to be a role model for others to show that although you might have a past and a bit of a journey to be who you are, you can achieve your dreams and ambitions.
Ash has also worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company and was the first transgender actor to appear on the RSC stage. His other work includes Summer In London at Theatre Royal, Stratford East and Boy Meets Girl for the BBC.
Find out more about Ash here https://twitter.com/Ash_Palmo and about Transgender Awareness Week and Transgender Day of Remembrance here https://www.glaad.org/transweek
A female-only Cambridge University college will now accept applications from transgender students.
Murray Edwards, whose alumni include broadcasters Claudia Winkleman and Sue Perkins, had only admitted women since its creation in 1954.
It will now consider those who identify as female and, where identified as male at birth, have “taken steps to live in the female gender”.
Transgender students applications are being considered for the 2018 intake. More
International Youth Day is on 12 August and as 2017 marks the 25th anniversary of the Charlton Athletic Community Trust (CACT) we have chosen them as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the month for their with the local community and programmes for young people.
The community programme was established in 1992 and became Charlton Athletic Community Trust in 2003. Known as CACT, it is famed for its work in its local communities and has scooped numerous prestigious industry awards over recent years.
The community initiative began when the football club returned to The Valley in 1992. It started with just one member of staff, a bag of footballs and a telephone and has now grown into an organisation that employs 100 permanent staff, has a pool of over 100 casual coaches and engages with thousands of people on a weekly basis.
CACT uses the power of football and sport to engage, empower and provide positive opportunities and activities for young people.
The trust delivers successful community programmes is the following areas:
As well as young people the trust has many other initiatives in the community, with their work on mental health in the over 65 age group, recently being nominated for a national award.
The university has strong connections with the football club and continue to be a patron following a three year period as the shirt sponsor. Our LGBT+ staff network have continued links with Proud Valiants, Charlton’s LGBT+ fans’ group and the trust have often attended university events, particularly in relation to their stop smoking campaign.
To find out more about CACT and the excellent work that they do go to their website at http://www.cact.org.uk/
Follow them on twitter at https://twitter.com/CAFCTrust
The “ladies and gentlemen” greeting on Tube announcements is to be scrapped, Transport for London (TfL) has announced.
London Underground staff have been told to say “hello everyone” in an effort to become more gender-neutral.
TfL said the move was to ensure all passengers felt “welcome”.
LGBT campaign group Stonewall welcomed the decision, which was supported by London mayor Sadiq Khan at a session of Mayor’s Question Time last month.
The revised phrasing will be applied to all new pre-recorded announcements made across the capital’s transport network. More
Building Bridges is Chelsea FC’s campaign to promote equality, celebrate diversity and make everyone feel valued throughout our club, stadium and wider community.
Through Building Bridges, we work with everyone from children and young people in schools and grassroots football clubs through to community groups and our senior men’s and ladies’ teams, to create a club where everyone feels welcome, regardless of who they are and where they come from.
Since the campaign launched in 2010, Chelsea FC is proud to have been awarded the Advanced Level of the Premier League Equality Standard – one of only two professional clubs to do so – in recognition of our ongoing commitment to inclusion and to tackling all forms of prejudice and discrimination. More
Join HRP for a series of LGBT+ themed events in 2017, telling the stories of‘1,000 years of kings, queen and in-betweens’ at its iconic sites as part the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexual acts in England and Wales. #palacepride