It is good to know and see that some Hospitals and Trusts are striving to bring about equality and inclusion, but even now there are still some that leave a lot to be desired. I live in Manchester where, for the most part, equality and inclusion is well promoted and supported appearing to be something that is second nature and treated as a 'normal' aspect of life. I identify as a bisexual man leaning more toward men than women and have medical issues that require regular medical check-ups and dialysis treatment, my appointments usually go ahead with no issues or concerns but occasionally I still come across that 'one' member of staff who has 'reservations'. I doubt that we as a society will ever get to 100% equality and acceptance, it is getting better but there is still, and probably always will be, a long way to go. It has been acknowledged in earlier blog entries that that hospitals in the big cities are those that have made the best progress, hospitals in the smaller towns and cities are where this is a bigger issue.

6 hours ago, Mancunian said:

It is good to know and see that some Hospitals and Trusts are striving to bring about equality and inclusion, but even now there are still some that leave a lot to be desired. I live in Manchester where, for the most part, equality and inclusion is well promoted and supported appearing to be something that is second nature and treated as a 'normal' aspect of life. I identify as a bisexual man leaning more toward men than women and have medical issues that require regular medical check-ups and dialysis treatment, my appointments usually go ahead with no issues or concerns but occasionally I still come across that 'one' member of staff who has 'reservations'. I doubt that we as a society will ever get to 100% equality and acceptance, it is getting better but there is still, and probably always will be, a long way to go. It has been acknowledged in earlier blog entries that that hospitals in the big cities are those that have made the best progress, hospitals in the smaller towns and cities are where this is a bigger issue.

This is the last blog in this series because this was the last comment piece I had published in Nursing Standard magazine. Early in 2020 they changed their format, going from a weekly publication to a monthly one, and where less in need of content. After then I started to return to blogging.

Life is changing. Britain is far more welcoming than it was twenty years ago, and certainly more than it was thirty years ago, and I am sure that has a lot to do with more visibility over the years. The more people who are out than the more people know someone who is LGBT, and the more they realise the reality of our lives.

There has always been a move to the city for anyone "different", our cities are more liberal and open places, certainly more multicultural places (I've been doing some reach on this for something else I am writing). Which has left life outside of them still very conservative. Things are changing but there are still a lot of push-backs against. Our right-wing media is certainly pushing back, with their "war on wokeness" (which equals a war on diversity) and their anti-trans views make me sick (especially as they are the arguments they used against gays thirty years ago).

I have a hope for the future, based on my own experience. I started to come out in 1984 and the world today is totally different from then, the changes are breath-taking. Yes, there is a lot more that needs to be done and that's why we should never stop pushing for equality.

I'm going to write a postscript to this blog series. Something happened at this year's London Pride that showed me how far we have come. But I haven't written it yet and I've got other blogs to post first.