About Us
Scottish Government Funded STA Outcomes
The Scottish Government Equality Unit initially provided funding for a 15 month pilot Scottish Transgender Alliance Development Pilot Project. In early June 2008, the Scottish Government Equality Unit announced that three further financial years of funding would be provided to enable the Scottish Transgender Alliance Project Coordination to continue to March 2011. Through this funding, the Equality Network employs James Morton as the Scottish Transgender Alliance Project Coordinator. He has been in post since April 2007. His role is to organise and expand the work of the Scottish Transgender Alliance and to promote transgender rights and equality across Scotland.
The Scottish Transgender Alliance's 2008-2011 Project Level Outcomes are shown below:
OUTCOME ONE: National policy and good practice developments reduce the significant discrimination that transgender people face in the law, in public services and employment, and in general public attitudes.
To progress towards this first outcome, the Scottish Transgender Alliance Project Outputs include:
- maintaining, updating and publicising this website.
- meeting with, and creating briefings for, public service policy-makers, government officials and MSPs.
- ongoing involvement in the Scottish Government's work to improve public attitudes towards LGBT people (in regard to the Hearts & Minds Agenda Group's Recommendations).
- undertaking partnership work with, and providing guidance to, national LGBT and gender equality organisations in Scotland, the EHRC, trade unions and rights advocacy/advice services, and cross-strand equality organisations to support them to do work to reduce the inequality and discrimination experienced by transgender people.
- submitting consultation responses to priority national policy proposals.
OUTCOME TWO: An increase in the number, geographical spread and diversity of transgender people who are confident and skilled in leading visible work on transgender rights, equality and inclusion across Scotland.
To progress towards this second outcome, the Scottish Transgender Alliance Project Outputs include:
- running training days and mentoring sessions for transgender volunteers.
OUTCOME THREE: An increase in accurate and positive public representation of transgender people’s experiences in Scotland.
To progress towards this third outcome, the Scottish Transgender Alliance Project Outputs include:
- running public transgender creative expression cultural events through the STA TRANSforming Arts group.
- assisting journalists and film-makers to create accurate and positive representations of transgender experiences in the Scottish media.
OUTCOME FOUR: Transgender people are more informed about, and more included in, the national policy making process.
To progress towards this fourth outcome, the Scottish Transgender Alliance Project Outputs include:
- running a regular Scottish Transgender Alliance Forum.
- producing a quarterly Scottish Transgender Alliance newsletter (distributed within the Equality Network newsletter).
- consulting transgender people in Scotland on their views of transgender equality issues and priorities, via surveys and focus groups, and updating STA policy work accordingly.
OUTCOME FIVE: Public service policies and practice improve in addressing the needs and rights of transgender people.
To progress towards this fifth outcome, the Scottish Transgender Alliance Project Outputs include:
- providing transgender equality and inclusion training sessions to public service providers in Scotland.
- working in partnership with the ACPOS LGBT Reference Group to increase transgender equality and inclusion within police custody care, hate crime reporting schemes and wider community safety initiatives.
- working in partnership with LGBT and cross-strand equality organisations to promote transgender inclusion within public sector equality mainstreaming programmes.
- providing good practice guidance and policy development assistance to specific public services, with particular reference to the Gender Equality Duty and the new goods and services protections provided by the Sex Discrimination (Amendment of Legislation) Regulations 2008.
The fine details of the STA Project Coordination workplan for the 2009-2010 financial year are currently being finalised.