Helping Watford have more Pride.
- Are you a Watford or Three Rivers local?
- Are you part of (or an ally to) the LGBTQ+ community?
- Do you wish that the local community did more to cater to its LGBTQ residents?
If any of these questions apply to you then we at Impactful Governance think you might be interested in our latest ongoing project.
For those that may be unaware, Impactful Governance is surveying the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people and allies within the Watford area. Once we have gathered our target of 200+ participants, we will then publish a report with our findings to spark a wider conversation on how the local area can be more inclusive to its LGBTQ+ residents.
When we experimented last year the majority of participants came to the overwhelming consensus that events that catered to the LGBTQ+ community were not often advertised that well with participants noting that both online and physical advertisement was lacking. Participants agreed that while we did have Watford Pride, it was often filled with majority straight families and felt very corporate and sanitised. While this isn’t a bad thing by any means, a few participants expressed frustration with the fact that there were no meeting spaces in Watford specifically made for LGBTQ+ people.
When asked how to combat the issues presented, participants stated that while online communities are great, many would like some sort of physical event to take place once in a while, perhaps an LGBTQ+ coffee morning or pub crawl once a month. To help with the issue of lack of advertisement, one participant suggested the creation of an app that would notify those who signed up for any LGBTQ+ events going on in the local area. Finally, when asked about what improvements could be made to make the local area more inclusive in terms of policy making and basic freedoms, participants suggested that when putting forward new policies that could affect those in the LGBTQ community, the Council and other figures of authority should ask members of the community for their input. This suggestion also applied to any events that are to be planned in the future.
While these accounts must seem pretty damning and negative, there is a silver lining. The fact that there is a Pride event in Watford at all is a huge achievement in itself and while our community may be unrepresented, the celebrations of who we love are extremely monumental in their own right. What’s more, when events for the LGBTQ+ community are organised, many of the participants stated that they were actively encouraged by those involved to attend. We are not trying to shame the local area for what pride celebrations and events they organise, we as an organisation are however highlighting our findings that we feel could be beneficial for local celebrations of LGBTQ+ identities. This is because while Watford and the Three Rivers area aren’t unsupportive by any means, more could always be done to help our LGBTQ+ residents.
So now you know more about our ongoing project and the results from the previous year, we really hope you will consider contributing. It will only take 5 minutes and we hope that by gathering a significantly larger sample size, we can make Watford and Three Rivers more inclusive for LGBTQ+ folks. If you are part of the LGBTQ+ community or an ally, your opinion would be greatly valued and together we can help the Watford and Three Rivers LGBTQ+ community thrive and become the best it possibly can be.
Please use the following link to participate: https://bit.ly/3yj5ey4