How can cross-sector collaboration be improved for LGBTQIA+ communities?

This is a very interesting topic & question. You're talking about LGBTQIA+ humans as if they have special needs. In an emergency, this should apply to handicap, elderly, or the physically impaired. The goal of emergency planning is to respond to an emergency in a structured & efficient manner so that you can recover from the emergency. The problem with this is it insinuates that 1: LGBTQIA+ humans are purposely excluded 2: During an emergency we should label people (Orientation, gender, race, religion, etc), so we know how to treat them 3: If someone who identifies as LGBTQIA+ are not included in planning, they will not receive help during response & recovery. If you want people to feel inclusive, stop treating them like they are different.

I believe it is essential to undertake an Equality Impact Assessment of all plans to ensure that they are accessible, actionable and appropriate for all members of the community. Taking this approach would ensure that Emergency Managers consult and incorporate measures to make sure plans are fit for all community members and that they consider the wider implications of their plan before it is enacted.

Law enforcement must increase it's positive and welcoming messaging by investing deeply in insight as to what we do. The various social media platforms are just beginning to be utilized by LEOs for a variety of reasons but now having their proverbial toes dipped in the water anyone can see the progress that has been made in community outreach initiatives. The LGBTQIA+ has a responsibility to communicate with their community LEOs and provide that vital information that is needed to thwart criminal activity. The resistance to LEOs in many communities is rooted in truths but those truths also have an expiration date to their current validity. Working together in a honest fashion driven by community stakeholders is that key.

As someone who is professionally active in Crisis Management and a Rotarian (with our very distinct ethical code), this is for me a no-brainers. By eliminating the "LGBTQIA+" label of a person, i.e. by seeing the "human being" as the casualty and nothing else. Apart from that it would be interesting to read references on which these LinkedIn statements are based. I have - in scientific literature - never heard of violence, discrimination DURING a crisis towards those communities. If there are recorded and scientifically significant instances of e.g. people from a community being victim of violence during a chemical incident or a flood, then I would be very interested in getting these article citations.

Getting to know all of your cross-sector collaborators requires more than just knowing the name of the organization and the person representing the org at meetings. Send an introductory email or phone call prior to the first meeting. A short touch-base to get to know one another and ask what they hope to achieve with the collaboration can go a long way to better understanding your partners. During the meeting make sure that each member of the collaboration orgs have a chance to let the group know what they hope to achieve for their community, and the community at large, with the collaboration. Lastly, consider having everyone list their pronouns. For some of us this may not be the norm, but consider how impactful this act really can be.

Start by asking, rather than telling. Ask our LGBTQIA+ partners what resources they need. Ask our partners what is a regular deficit they encounter in the aftermath of a long duration incident. These are the gaps we need to address, and it all starts with asking, "What do you need?"

“If it isn’t written, it isn’t done.” Follow this adage by gathering data and publishing regular progress reports, after action reports, and corrective action reports. To gather good metrics, ask your cross-sectional partners for their input, and, if possible, for survey responses from members within their community. If no one reports a problem it doesn’t mean the problem doesn’t exist, just that we have no way of addressing and correcting what we don’t know. It is also important to highlight successes that come from our collaborations. If all we do is emphasize the negative we lose sight of how many areas for improvement we meet through our collaborations.