LGBTQIA+ people and disasters

This report explores the impacts of disasters on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual and other non-binary, non-heterosexual (LGBTQIA+) people and how the lack of guidance and policy impacts the inclusion of these people in preparing for, responding to and recovering from disasters. This paper highlights considerable gaps in policy and practice at international, national and local level when responding to disasters from the perspective of LGBTQIA+ people.

In order to rectify this and to ensure that disaster risk reduction policy and practiceis truly inclusive of all in society, the following recommendations have been made:

• Ensuring LGBTQIA+ people are not only reflected and considered in policy andpractice within disaster risk reduction, but actively seeking to include LGBTQIA+people and groups in the development and building of such preparedness,response and recovery schemes.
• Ensuring a system of policy development that recognises the essential role ofcentralised guidance to build and incorporate LGBTQIA+ people within disasterrisk reduction policy and practice but also accommodates local level, grassrootsimplementation of that gender and sexual minority inclusion.
• Continued evidence-based research into the impacts of disaster andemergencies on LGBTQIA+ people must be encouraged and importantly, funded.There should be a concerted effort to move that research out of the realms ofpurely academic settings and into real-world policymaking and implementation.
• The championing a human rights-based approach to disaster risk reduction,preparedness and response, where a person’s sexual or gender identity is not abarrier to receiving the assistance and opportunities needed to recover from adisaster. This championship should be funded and encouraged by governmentsand international organisations, but with the explicit inclusion of LGBTQIA+grassroots organisations and NGOs.