AN OPENLY gay councillor has revealed he is shocked at the lack of support in Redditch for homosexual and transgender residents.
Coun Joe Baker is currently chairing a task group looking at networks for the LGBT community within the borough.
In an update at Redditch Borough Council’s overview and scrutiny meeting on Tuesday (January 13), he said his eyes had been opened about how ‘bad’ the town was at supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents.
“We have also looked at reports on some of the hate crime that’s been going around and the figures are quite shocking as to the amount of LGBT people who have suffered from hate crime,” he added.
“It is quite distressing a lot of it isn’t reported.”
The group is currently compiling questions for Insp Rebecca Love from West Mercia Police to answer surrounding policing and safety within the community, while also looking at other councils’ provision and the charity Stonewall.
Coun Baker said Birmingham City Council seemed to be one of the forerunners and had a support network for its workers.
He added councillors would be visiting RSA Academy Arrow Vale who had started their own youth programme, to see how this could be incorporated within some of the other schools across Redditch.
