Brighton & Hove Council, which runs the 'gay capital of Britain', has been named the UK ’s most gay-friendly local authority for the second year running.
 
Eventhough falling from third to fourth place, the Council is once again the highest ranked local authority in Stonewall’s annual Workplace Equality Index.
 
The accolade is awarded to firms and organisations whose employment practices and general policies best ensure fair treatment of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.
 
The council’s LGBT staff forum has also been recognised by Stonewall as a ‘Star Network Group’ – in recognition of the work it does towards workplace equality.
 
Factors scoring well for the council include the staff forum and the fact that the council has a number of gay senior managers. It has run award-winning recruitment advertising encouraging a diversity of job applicants and insists on equalities awareness training for staff.
 
The authority has also held recruitment drives at the city’s annual 80,000-strong gay Pride festival.
 
Gay staff working at Stonewall’s top 25 workplaces reported a satisfaction level almost 10 per cent higher than workplaces outside the Top 100.
 
Around 15 per cent of the council’s 7,000 staff describe themselves as LGBT – about 1,000 in total. This is a similar proportion to the city as a whole, where 13-17 per cent of its 250,000 population is estimated to be gay.
 
Cabinet councillor for community affairs Dee Simson said:
“I’m very proud that Britain’s top gay pressure group continues to rate us so highly. Our commitment to equal treatment for all our communities can also now be seen in the new city-wide equalities charter for statutory agencies that we’ve helped put together.”

For more information about Brighton and Hove Council view:
www.brighton-hove.gov.uk

For more information about Stonewall view:
www.stonewall.org.uk