The Network is very pleased to share the statement below from Ms Claire Seymour, Green Party Candidate for the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner (DPCC) election on 6th May, further to a greatly appreciated contact and valuable engagement the Network has received and had Claire.
It gives great pleasure to see through the statement how Ms Seymour has provided a solid commitment to, if elected, supporting LGBT+ communities (and our ethnic minorities/BAME, disabilities communities, and both genders). This in helping our friends at Dorset Police, and more generally related statutory sector organisations such as the two local authorities (Dorset Council and BCP Council) in the pan-Dorset area to further advance meaningful, tangible, non ‘tick box’ support for the more vulnerable and isolated sections of our community.
It has given us also much happiness to see that Claire has also engaged with our independent LGBT+ community registered activist partner and friends at Bourne Free.
“It is a great pleasure to have spent time with the LGB&T Dorset Equality Network that I have learned is evolving to a national level LGBT+ and Allies organisation which is a great credit to Dorset, and with Bourne Free whose work is so central to our LGBT+ communities’ welfare. This talking with both about some of the important work going on to strive to live in an inclusive community now, and for generations to come.
There has been an increase of reports in hate crime recorded by our Police constabularies over the last 5 years, and as a candidate for Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner, one of my pledges is all around building inclusive communities and ensuring we tackle crimes and anti-social behaviour motivated by hate, including online and in the workplace. In my role as an Anti-social Behaviour Manager, I see first-hand the enormous impact hate crime can have on an individual, families’ and communities.
I believe Dorset needs a strong message that hate and prejudice will not be tolerated in our communities, and if I am successful, I am determined to build on engagement and awareness for all ages, minority communities and both genders, which is ever more important with the disruption caused by and impacts of Covid 19, in particular for our young people to have the right support, guidance and awareness in place for positive engagement.
We also need to continue striving for effective grassroots representation at every level within our public services, and there needs to be a real focus on reporting, confidence in reporting process, and an adequate action to create positive change. Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or concerns”.
Claire Seymour
Green Party Candidate for Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner
You can read more about Claire’s vision for and commitments regarding if she is elected as DPCC at: https://bcp.greenparty.org.uk/news/claire-seymour-selected-as-green-party-candidate-for-dorset-police-and-crime-commissioner-election/
Mrs Seymour is now the second DPCC candidate that has taken the time to reach out to the LGBT+ pan-Dorset community through the Network; the other being some time ago Mr David Sidwick, the DPCC Conservative candidate that connected with us to our great appreciation back in 2019.
The Network is a Party Politics free charity, that encourages all political parties to take a meaningful, tangible stand with our more bullied, discriminated against community members, and to avoid ‘going through the motions’ tick box LGBT Ally positions.