Progress flag to fly at OIC this weekend to mark Pride month

The Progress flag will fly from Kirkwall Town Hall from this Friday night (16 June) throughout the weekend, in support of diversity and equality in the community.

It’s widely recognised that inequalities and barriers continue to exist for many groups when it comes to accessing healthcare, education, employment, housing and social service, impacting many LGBTQ+ communities in the UK.

Orkney Islands Council Convener, Graham Bevan, said: “Flying the Progress flag is an opportunity for the Council – as a local authority with responsibility for many vital services - to physically demonstrate our commitment to inclusive services and better experiences for all in our community.

“In Pride month we acknowledge particularly our LGBQT+ communities who historically have endured prejudice and inequities - and unfortunately in some quarters continue to do so.

“As a Council we are determined to ensure we are a compassionate Council serving all – and flying the Progress flag is one way we can signal this to the wider community and encourage conversations on what it truly means to be equitable.”

But, Councillor Bevan says it’s not just about equitable services.

“It’s important for us to build a culture of inclusion at OIC also for colleagues.

“We are committed to creating a safe and inclusive workplace - our staff policies and employee benefits are an important part of working here and we want to ensure that these policies are inclusive to all.”

OIC policies relating to family, leave and other benefits don’t make assumptions about the gender of employees or of their partners. These include:

• Adoption and Surrogacy policy
• Leave of Absence policy
• Maternity and Paternity policy
• Shared parental leave policy
• Menopause policy
• Local Government Pension Scheme

The Council’s Dignity at Work policy makes specific mention of LGBTQ+ discrimination, bullying and harassment and aims to help all colleagues to feel confident identifying and reporting these incidents, and sets out clearly that any form of homophobic, biphobic or transphobic behaviour is not tolerated at OIC.

The Council’s organisational development team are starting to look at how OIC can bring staff together to continue the conversation beyond Pride month, and share ideas on how OICs services and workplace can be more inclusive.

Convener Graham Bevan says: “Getting involved is a great way to support and shape our inclusive future and I’d urge all our staff to keep an eye out for more details coming soon and consider how they can support this work.”