Seven ways we’re working towards being a more inclusive charity for LGBTQ+ people

Marie Curie staff and volunteers at London Pride, 2019.

We want to ensure anyone from the LGBTQ+ community receives the best possible care and support from Marie Curie. That they feel safe to be who they are when using the charity’s expert hospice care at home and patient-facing volunteer-led services. We want to demonstrate that Marie Curie is a charity that values and welcomes diversity. 

There's lots of work going on at the moment, but here are seven ways we’re driving change across the organisation, to make sure our staff and service users ‘live and breathe’ our value of openness and tolerance.

1. Looking into the reality of end of life experience for LGBTQ+ people

In 2017, we published Hiding who I am, a research report into the reasons why LBGT people experience significant barriers to getting palliative care when they need it.

This showed that nearly three-quarters (74%) of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) people are not confident that health and social care services provide sensitive end of life care for their needs. Read more.  

We've also funded two ACCESScare projects, one which looked at equality in end of life care services in LGBT communities, and one which looked at the bereavement needs of LGB people. Find out more about the projects.  

2. Training our people

In December 2019, we launched our LGBTQ+ Ally Training programme, introducing a Marie Curie rainbow flag pin for our staff to wear to show our service users that it is a safe space for them.

To get the pin, staff have to complete a training module to understand more about the LGBTQ+ community and the barriers they face in accessing care.

3. Designing information and support

We produced a dedicated booklet for LGBTQ+ people at the end of their life. The booklet outlines thoughts on getting care, as well as planning for the end of life.

4. Launching a more inclusive flag for 2020

Every single person is shaped by the life they experience. The good and the bad moments in our lives make us who we are and dictate the way we move around life.

At Marie Curie we want everyone who uses our services to not hide or censor any part of themselves. We want the end of life experience for everyone to be the best it can possibly be, and that means we need to understand those barriers people have faced in life, particularly people from marginalised communities.

That’s why we’re proud to incorporate a more inclusive pride flag into our support of the LGBTQ+ community. The pink, white and blue stripes show our solidarity with the trans community and the black and brown stripes represent our solidarity with queer people of colour.

5. Celebrating Pride

As a firm supporter of the LGBTQ+ community, Marie Curie has been actively present at Pride events across the UK over recent years. However, due to coronavirus, many events in the UK have had to be cancelled.

Fortunately, a lot of activity is still taking place online until it's safe to celebrate in person. So we're exploring how we can share our information and resources with the LGBTQ+ community in either virtual or in-person events later this year.

6. Becoming a diversity champion

In July 2019, Marie Curie signed up to be a Stonewall Diversity Champion, building on our existing work to promote LGBTQ+ diversity and inclusion for the patients and families we support in hospices and communities across the UK.

7. Looking to the future

Although we’re very proud of our achievements to date, we’re very aware that the road is still very long until everyone is able to enjoy the best end of life experience.

We're continuing to working as a team across all these areas to drive positive change across our services and staff.