Pride in Veterans Standard

What is the Pride in Veterans Standard (PiVS)?

Any veteran-focused organisation will want to ensure it is proactive in making the whole veteran community feel confident in accessing its services and support, knowing that when they do, they can be assured they will be treated with dignity, respect and understanding.

Fighting With Pride is a trusted and respected LGBT+ military charity with lived experience and knowledge to support organisations wanting to develop or improve their LGBT+ welcome and support services. LGBT+ Veterans, serving personnel, and families will be more confident approaching support organisations where they see a marker that assures them of a welcome reception.

The Pride in Veterans Standard (PiVS)is a programme developed by Fighting with Pride. It is open to any organisation that wishes to demonstrate its commitment to being inclusive and welcoming to LGBT+ Veterans, serving personnel, and their families.

To engage successfully, organisations need to be understanding of the experience of LGBT+ Veterans and how their experiences of the “gay ban” may impact them in accessing services or support. Organisations need to be ready to be able to provide services in a supportive and empathetic way that meets the specific needs of our LGBT+ community.

Being part of PiVS demonstrates an organisation’s commitment to delivering the highest standards for LGBT+ Veteran inclusion. PiVS organisations will work proactively to deliver to the following PiVS Commitments:

Warmly welcome LGBT+ Veterans, serving personnel and their families.
Ensure all staff, volunteers, and members have an awareness of the different challenges faced by LGBT+ people, in particular, those who were impacted by the Armed Forces “gay ban.”
Have a clear understanding of the needs of LGBT+ Veterans and tailor support to meet their specific needs.
Understand that for some LGBT+ Veterans, their experiences have impacted their mental health, so ensure any support in this area is tailored to meet their specific needs.
Promote inclusion, dignity and respect for LGBT+ people in everything they do.
Recognise the different groups in the LGBT+ community and understand their needs may be different.

FWP understands that organisations will be at different stages of their LGBT+ inclusion journey, and the support offered through PiVS is designed to help you progress on that journey.

What does being part of PiVS say about your organisation?

Working with FWP and being part of PiVS is a very visible and practical way to show that:

You set the highest standards for LGBT+ inclusion for your organisation, staff, volunteers and members
You are committed to providing the best possible support to LGBT+ Veterans, serving personnel and their families
You have an understanding of the Armed Forces “gay ban” and the impact this has had on all those affected by it
You are aligned with the FWP’s mission to ensure that LGBT+ Veterans, serving personnel and their families are fully included within the Armed Forces Covenant-the Nation’s commitment to Veterans. It is a pledge that ensures Veterans and their families have access to a wide variety of support and are treated fairly.

PiVS benefits?

FWP will constantly look at ways we can support organisations to help them deliver to the standard. This includes:

Access to dedicated PiVS online resources
PiVS organisation seminars, workshops and networking events
Priority support for online training/speaker events/consultation activity (subject to FWP availability)
Priority access to additional in-person training/speakers at PiVS rates
Access to LGBT+ Veterans’ lived experiences to develop awareness and understanding through our PiVS Resources section
Access to a large LGBT+ Veteran community through our UK-wide veterans’ network
Priority access to FWP staff to provide advice and support
Regular updates via the PiVS Organisations Newsletter
Extend the reach of your recruitment pool by linking your organisation’s recruitment through the FWP Jobs Board
Use the PiVS logo to promote your LGBT+ Veteran inclusive credentials

“You are the gift that keeps on giving! It’s so handy having all these sent to my inbox and saves my brain having to make it sound good to share around RBL. The resource sheets are very handy too” – RBL

“I just wanted to say thank you to your organisation for being such a wonderful source of information, support, guidance and positivity. We’ve been delighted that we could signpost someone reaching out to us for support to an organisation that is able to give them what they need and is clearly making such a difference to them on a difficult journey” – NHS Somerset

“We have found our engagement with Dougie, Fighting with Pride and our Pride in Veterans Standard (PiVS) helpful in our work supporting LGBT+ Veterans and their families and look forward to continuing to work with you all going forward” – L0thians Veterans Cente

Who can sign up?

We welcome any organisation that provides support or services to Veterans, serving personnel and their families to commit to the PiVS.

Supporting organisations deliver to the standard.

Once signed up to PiVS, we ask organisations to tell us what they are doing or plan to do to meet the standard; this will help us tailor the support we offer organisations on their LGBT+ Veteran inclusion journey. At annual renewal, organisations will need to update and review their plans and share their update with FWP.

This allows FWP to have confidence that organisations are committed, in a very practical way, to PiVS. It also enables us to continually support, guide, and offer best practices to organisations in areas that may need development.

What if a veteran’s experience does not meet what they might expect from a PiVS organisation?

It is important to FWP that veterans’ real experience reflects PiVS when they access support. If you feel it hasn’t, please let us know at [email protected].

FWP will:

Make sure you have the correct details needed for you to raise your concern/issue with the organisation
Engage with the organisation to help identify and address performance that does not meet PiVS

Learn more from Combat Stress about what it means for them to be a PiVS Organisation