Fish - Social Work and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans People

First published in Great Britain in 2012 by

The Policy Press

University of Bristol

Fourth Floor

Beacon House

Queens Road

Bristol BS8 1QU

UK

tel +44 (0)117 331 4054

fax +44 (0)117 331 4093

e-mail tpp-info@bristol.ac.uk

www.policypress.co.uk

North American office:

The Policy Press

c/o The University of Chicago Press

1427 East 60th Street

Chicago, IL 60637, USA

t: +1 773 702 7700

f: +1 773-702-9756

sales@press.uchicago.edu

www.press.uchicago.edu

The Policy Press 2012

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book has been requested.

ISBN 978 1 84742 803 5 paperback

ISBN 978 1 84742 804 2 hardcover

The right of Julie Fish to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act.

All rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of The Policy Press.

The statements and opinions contained within this publication are solely those of the authors and not of the University of Bristol, The Policy Press or the British Association of Social Workers. The University of Bristol, The Policy Press and the British Association of Social Workers disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any material published in this publication.

The Policy Press works to counter discrimination on grounds of

gender, race, disability, age and sexuality.

Cover design by The Policy Press.

Front cover: image kindly supplied by www.istock.com

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Hobbs, Southampton.

The Policy Press uses environmentally responsible print partners.

Readers Guide

This book has been optimised for PDA.

Tables may have been presented to accommodate this devices limitations.

Image presentation is limited by this devices limitations.

List of tables and figures

List of tables

List of figures

List of abbreviations

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank colleagues and social work students at De Montfort University for their insights and experiences, in particular, Yateen Makwana, Sam Bennett and Maxine Magee. Thanks to Nettie for her patience and support while I was writing this book and to Steve for his sense of humour.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Over the past decade, there have been profound social and legal changes for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) people in the UK that impact on the practice of social work. These include the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships, eligibility to apply to adopt a child, protection from dismissal from employment, legal recognition of homophobic hate crime and rights of succession to a tenancy if a partner dies. Until the introduction of the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations in 2007, there was no legislation to prohibit discrimination against LGBT people in public services. Changes in legislation have been accompanied by more positive social attitudes. In 1987, the British Social Attitudes Survey revealed that 75% of people believed that homosexuality was always or mostly wrong (EHRC, 2009: 10). By 2008, the proportion of people holding such beliefs had fallen to 32%. Beyond tolerance, an online survey of 5,000 people for the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), showed that 84% would be happy or neutral to be treated by an openly LGBT doctor (EHRC, 2009). The survey also revealed that only a third of heterosexual men agreed that gay men could be equally good at bringing up children as other men and they also agreed that lesbians and gay men will find it harder to adopt a child than other men and women (EHRC, 2009: 63). Beliefs that LGBT parents are second best have an impact on social work practice and may mean that LGBT peoples parenting capacity is assessed less favourably than that of other people.

Hidden in social work services

Research by Barnardos, the childrens charity, highlighted that fewer than 4% of children (120 out of 3,200 children) were adopted by same-sex couples in England (Hill, 2011). This is a figure that was evenly split between couples who were and were not in a civil partnership. Information about LGBT people as users of social work is relatively uncommon. Although data are routinely collected on gender, race, disability and religion, public bodies have been reluctant to collect information about the sexual orientation of people using their services. This is partly because they do not see the case for monitoring sexual orientation and partly because of the perceived reluctance of LGBT people to disclose. Beyond Tolerance: Making Sexual Orientation a Public Matter argued that understanding LGBT peoples experiences of public services is a vital missing piece of the jigsaw:

We live in a society where heterosexuality is the norm and other expressions of sexuality are hidden and this in turn has affected confidence in public expression of LGBT lifestyles. Assumptions perpetuate misunderstandings and people get treated differently as a result sometimes unequally and unfairly. There is a vital difference between privacy and invisibility. People have not been asked about sexual orientation until recently in official surveys and for public purposes, for example, service monitoring. As a result LGBT lifestyles have remained largely invisible. This lack of visibility and awareness has meant that significant disadvantage and discrimination has gone unnoticed and remained unchallenged. (EHRC, 2009: 12)