Framing Equality Toolkit

"Our practices - how we engage with our communities and with the wider publics - must reflect and strengthen the stories we tell. Change is only possible once our movements are telling better stories through being more representative, diverse, and connected."

From ILGA-Europe - the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA) - and the Public Interest Research Centre, this toolkit is a short guide to strategic communications, based on research and building on the experience of activists and communicators from around the globe. It aims to provide a framework rather than a blueprint; it has been written with a focus on European LGBTI activists but in the hope that it will be useful to others with a similar vision.

The resource is focused on framing - something we do every time we communicate. The idea is that our societies are built on stories. These stories - of our past, present, and future - shape how we understand our relationships, what relationships we value and pursue, how we classify "us" and "them", how we treat others, and our expectations of state and civic duties. That we can deny rights to people based on their country of origin, sexuality, or gender identity is only possible due to a set of beliefs, or stories, about one group being more deserving than another. By understanding framing - how these stories interact with our thinking - campaigners and activists can craft their communications to create sustainable social change. This toolkit is about helping the activist or communicator do that.

There are three key stages to framing, reflective of the three main sections of the toolkit:

1. Define the task - This means getting clear on your vision and your goals, and then focusing in on where your audience currently is on the issue in order to know the barriers you need to overcome. Using these ingredients, you will set your framing tasks: what you need your frame to do. These generally centre on getting consensus around a problem and a solution, and motivating action.
2. Create frames - There are some general pieces of best practice for framing shared here and can be drawn on depending on whether the framing work is a big, proactive campaign, a movement-building initiative, everyday communications within an organisation, or quick response reactions.
3. Test and refine - There are more and less involved ways to do this, depending on how much resource you have and what kind of scale of implementation it will involve. After some time has passed, you will also want to evaluate your impact.

Featuring examples of frames created by the LGBTI movement in Europe, each section is structured for easy navigation with:

• A summary that outlines the key points you need to know about each step of the process;
• A summary do it yourself (DIY), which offers a quick methodology, set of tools, or questions; and
• A full section outlining each part of the process and more in-depth DIY sections for those of you who have more time, or who are new to the process.