Redditch Councillor Joe Baker calls for extra support for the LGBT community

Councillor Joe Baker is to ask Worcestershire County Council to get involved in a novel new project offering an olive branch to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

It follows the launch of a scheme in Redditch where taxpayers' cash is being used on a raft of initiatives - including training district council staff to be aware of specific LGBT mental health issues.

Leaflets are also being produced advertising the available support networks to them and a budget is being put together to support LGBG History Month, which is celebrated in the UK every February.

Councillor Baker, who secured approval for it in Redditch, is now going to use his role as a county councillor to encourage it to go further.

That includes getting County Hall to take part in the Stonewall Education Equality Index, an annual benchmarking exercise to identity the best employers for LGBT people, and getting schools involved too.

Councillor Baker said: "I am pleased we've got to this stage and what I intend to do now is use my role as a county councillor to build on it.

"It's a really important issue and what I want to do is encourage all councils to look at this and take it seriously.

"The county council, for example, could put this forward to schools - and the district councils could follow suit with some support of their own as has happened in Redditch."

He added that he wanted to raise awareness of the free hepatitis B vaccinations and that lesbian and bisexual women should be encouraged to attend cervical screening tests.

It will be discussed by the county council later this month.

In recent months Councillor Baker has mentioned how too many people in Worcestershire develop mental health problems because of their sexuality.

That includes one man who turned to prostitution at the age of 17 after his parents disowned him - and a boy who said he was bullied throughout high school because of it.