God's Other Children - A London Memoir
Vernal Scott, Author and Diversity Consultant. Born in 1960's London to Jamaican parents, Vernal Scott is an 'out', Christian, gay dad. In the 80s he initiated the then popular Peoples Group at the London Lesbian and Gay Centre. He later set up the Black Communities AIDS Team (BCAT), a support network for black people affeced by HIV and AIDS. In 1987 he was appointed Head of HIV services for the London Borough of Brent, serving one of London’s ethnic majority communities. In the early 90s he organised the highly successful Reach Out and Touch HIV/AIDS Procession with Flowers featuring stars such as Whitney Houston. A year later he invited Dionne Warwick to open his project, the Brent HIV Centre. In 2003 he joined another London borough as their Head of Equality and Diversity and more recently became a freelance consultant and coach, working with a wide range of companies including People Keys, and Marshall ACM. He has authored articles on subjects such as bullying and harassment and customer services. More recently, Vernal facilitated an all-day multi-disciplinary workshop, co-hosted by West Midlands Police Service, which looked at achieving equality outcomes in a context of efficiency savings. He views the Equality Act as an opportunity to renew efforts in removing discrimination of any kind from the lives of the men, women and children affected by it. November 2010 saw Vernal joined a leading official of the Equality and Human Rights Commission as a keynote speaker at the National Conference on Hate Crime. 2012 and 2013 saw Vernal actively supporting the Peter Tatchell Foundation and the London AIDS Memorial Campaign. He's also a 'McKenzie Friend' in family court and regular TV media commentator.