It’s hard to believe this is our 250th issue of Diversity Lens. When we first started, we wanted to shine a light on the stories that too often go ignored. Since then, the world has changed a lot—and so has the DEI landscape.

In the UK, we’ve seen important steps forward. Pay gap reporting has expanded. More employers are collecting meaningful data on race, disability, and sexual orientation. There’s been stronger conversation around menopause at work, the rise of employee networks, and better understanding of neurodivergence. More businesses are talking about inclusion not as a ‘nice to have’ but as central to good leadership.

But there’s still a long way to go. Trans rights are under attack. Many disabled people are being let down by inaccessible systems. Racial inequalities remain deeply rooted in our workplaces and institutions. There is certainly frustration and fatigue that’s starting to creep in and in too many cases, progress feels like a box-ticking exercise—not real change.

Diversity Lens has always aimed to challenge, educate, inform and spark better conversations. If you’ve been reading from the start, thank you for being on the journey with us. If you’ve only just joined us, we’re glad you’re here.

Here’s to continuing the good work and to the next 250 issues!

Cynthia V Davis - Founder & CEO

QUICK FIRE NEWS 🧨

🇵🇱 Poland scraps final ‘LGBT-free’ zone

☠️ MPs urged to address racial gap in air pollution impact

🚨 UK court rules trans women can be strip-searched by male police officers

LET'S GET INTO IT 👇

500 empty homes to be given to homeless Londoners in new plan to end rough sleeping

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced a major step towards his goal of ending rough sleeping in the capital by 2030—turning up to 500 empty social homes into safe, long-term housing for people facing homelessness.

What's the plan?

Backed by £17 million in government funding, the plan will see unused council and housing association properties refurbished and offered to people coming directly from the streets or leaving hostels. Crucially, people will no longer have to sleep rough first to access support, ending what campaigners call the harmful “verification-based” model.

Alongside the new homes, the strategy includes prevention hubs, a rough sleeping phone line, and tailored support for people with complex needs or insecure immigration status. The homes will be offered without requiring a local connection and will be available across London.

A shift in how we tackle homelessness

Rough sleeping in London is rising. Over 4,400 people were seen sleeping rough between January and March this year—almost half of them for the first time.

Charities have welcomed the plan, but say it must be backed by more social housing and long-term support. Many people sleeping rough have serious mental or physical health needs, which makes it harder to access help.

As Emma Haddad from St Mungo’s put it: “People shouldn’t have to wait until they’re on the streets to get help. This is about dignity and safety—and it’s long overdue.”

UK drops in LGBTQIA+ rights rankings—after topping the list a decade ago

The UK has dropped to 22nd place in Europe for LGBTQIA+ rights, according to the latest Rainbow Map from ILGA-Europe—a sharp fall from first place just ten years ago.

What’s behind the UK’s decline?

The index scores countries based on their laws and policies affecting LGBTQIA+ people. This year, the UK earned just 46%, making it the second-worst performer in western Europe and Scandinavia, ahead only of Italy. The drop is largely due to the recent Supreme Court ruling that defined “sex” in the Equality Act as biological—excluding trans people from protections that were previously understood to include them.

The UK now ranks 45th for legal gender recognition, on par with countries like Russia and Hungary. While Scotland’s new hate crime law was noted, it had little impact on the UK’s overall score because it doesn’t apply nationwide.

Why it matters

LGBTQIA+ campaigners say this is part of a wider pattern of political backsliding. Groups like Scottish Trans, TGEU and Amnesty warn that the UK is no longer seen as a leader on equality, but rather a cautionary tale of how progress can unravel.

The ruling, they argue, has created legal uncertainty for trans people, increased risks to privacy, and opened the door to exclusion from vital services like healthcare and refuge spaces. Vic Valentine of Scottish Trans said: “Politicians across the UK are quietly watching as trans rights are set back by decades. But none of this is inevitable—it can be reversed.”

ILGA-Europe’s message is clear: “The time to push back is now.”

Only a third of race equality recommendations have been acted on in 40 years

A new analysis by The Guardian has found that just a third of the recommendations from major race equality reviews in the UK since 1981 have been fully implemented—despite repeated government promises to address systemic racism.

What did the investigation uncover?

The findings come ahead of the fifth anniversary of the UK’s Black Lives Matter protests and draw on 12 government-commissioned reports into racial inequality. Of nearly 600 recommendations—covering everything from policing and education to health and housing—fewer than one in three have been delivered.

Some, such as calls for police and schools to reflect the communities they serve, or for the curriculum to include more diverse histories, have been made again and again—with no lasting action. Others were implemented briefly, only to be cut during austerity. Campaigners say we’re stuck in a cycle: a crisis happens, a review is launched, recommendations are shelved—and little changes.

Decades of delay, denial and missed chances

Those involved in past reviews say repeated inaction has had serious consequences. Lord Victor Adebowale believes some deaths could have been avoided if his 2021 mental health and policing recommendations had been followed.

Professor Ted Cantle, who led a 2001 review into community cohesion, said government inaction creates a “doom loop” of promises without delivery. Campaigners warn that reviews are often used to calm public anger, not to drive real change.

While private sector progress has improved boardroom diversity, racial inequality in public services remains widespread and too often ignored.

New project uses art to improve dental care for people with learning disabilities

A new research project led by the University of Plymouth is exploring how creativity and the arts can help make dental care more accessible and less distressing for people with learning disabilities.

What’s the project aiming to do?

The Caring Beyond Words project, funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), will bring together researchers, healthcare professionals, and people with learning disabilities to better understand what’s not working in current dental care—and how it can be improved.

Pilot schemes will test creative and patient-led approaches in real dental environments, with the goal of making care more inclusive and less anxiety-inducing. The project builds on earlier work that has used film and co-designed interventions to support people with dental anxiety and wider mental health issues.

Why dental access needs to change

People with learning disabilities are more likely to need hospital treatment for dental problems and often struggle to get the right support.

Pain and distress are sometimes misdiagnosed as mental health issues, meaning problems go untreated. The project hopes to change this by working directly with people with lived experience to shape better, more understanding care.

THIS MONTH WE'RE LOVING 🥰

👩❤️👩 Italian court rules both lesbian parents can be recognised as legal mothers

🏠 Mum secures dream home for disabled son

🏳️⚧️ Maine governor wins trans athlete legal battle