It’s time to appreciate the victories while fighting the injustices 

Alan Turing is a celebrated World War Two hero, genius mathematician codebreaker and the forefather of modern computers. He is credited as bringing the war to an earlier end with his cracking of the Enigma code. He was also homosexual.

And, despite his accomplishments, Turing was criminalised and eventually killed himself rather than face chemical castration.

February marked 63 years since his death and 50 years since the partial decriminalisation of gay sex in the UK.

It was clear during last month that the 4.5 million strong LGBT community was able to reflect, during LGBT history month, on how far it has come.

And this year, there was even greater cause for bittersweet celebration – as the Government announced that the “Alan Turing law” would posthumously pardon thousands of gay men convicted of historic offences. 

It is crucial that insurance providers, and the financial services industry as a whole, begin to address the alienation felt by LGBT consumers.

But, while this battle is won, the war isn’t over. LGBT people still face often daily prejudice, often overlooked or lingering within accepted cornerstones of our society.

Take financial services as a prime example.  Within the LGBT community there are much lower levels of insurance, savings and protection when compared to the rest of the population. Why does this group remain underserved? 

Simply put, many people feel that the financial services sector treats LGBT members unfairly. In fact, specifically in relation to insurance, research by Emerald Life revealed that four out of five (79 per cent) of the UK’s LGBT population would change the way that insurance companies interact with the LGBT community.

That’s because it’s not standard that wedding insurance covers a same-sex couple, or because people are still asked unnecessary questions about their relationships when taking out coverage.

Insurance firms are failing to address basic customer care points such as insensitive call centre language around family structure, or to provide products specially designed to meet real people’s needs.

It is crucial that insurance providers, and the financial services industry as a whole, begin to address the alienation felt by LGBT consumers.

We have seen efforts being made, for instance, same sex proposals now feature in advertisements and one progressive high street bank now lets you mark your title as Mx if you do not identify with a particular gender. But these are little victories and there is a long way still to go, particularly in customer interaction with poorly-trained staff. 

The inequality felt by the LGBT community is unfortunately the tip of the iceberg. We live in an increasingly diverse country in which 82 per cent of the population does not define themselves as a traditional nuclear family.

All too often, however, the insurance industry caters to the 2.4 children ideal rather than addressing the real lives, concerns and motivations of the LGBT community, women, ‘non-traditional’ family units and singletons and designing cost-effective cover that protects their unique situations.  

Specialist companies are emerging, such as Emerald Life, that focus on properly covering the LGBT community and tailoring services, across a whole range of insurances.

But the industry has to change as a whole – it needs to be redesigned to reflect today’s diversity. 

So what should we take away from last month's LGBT history focus?

In today’s turbulent times, where across the Atlantic we see hard-won women’s, transgender and other civil rights being able to be dismantled by the stroke of a pen, our history is important.

Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it. In Alan Turing’s Law we see how far we have come.

It’s important for the LGBT community to celebrate these victories, but we must never give up striving for full equality – not just in the statute books but equally important in how we are treated in everyday life.  

Steve Wardlaw is chairman of Emerald Life