Embracing Pride: The Importance of Allyship

Today marks the start of PRIDE month and 2023 marks 20 years since Section 28, the law that banned “promotion of homosexuality” in the UK, was repealed. Despite oppressive laws and societal discrimination, the LGBTQ+ community has resisted, inspired others and broken barriers. PRIDE month is a celebration of this continual forward movement and with this year’s theme being Peace, Love and Revolution, it’s important for those of us who don’t belong to the LGBTQ+ community to understand how we can help to support others to openly be themselves.

Having scraped ‘O’ level Maths at school, bucking the trend of my heritage and being much more gifted in English, let’s start in my discomfort zone and talk numbers…

• 83 is the number of countries with no LGBTQ+ employment protections
• 69 countries declare it still to be illegal to be LGBTQ+
• 36% of your LGBTQ+ colleagues are still hiding who they are for fear of discrimination
• 25% of your trans colleagues are still secretive with their peers about being trans
• 20% of your LGBTQ+ colleagues have been the target of negative comments or conduct from work colleagues.

As you can probably gather by the reference to ‘O’ levels and not GCSEs, I’m a little long in the tooth, a straight, menopausal Gen-Xer. I’m an LGBTQ+ ally, a proud one at that. I was born and raised in the industrial north, first ‘bumping’ into the gay community when two of my best friends confided in me, spurred on by icons of the time like David Bowie and Elton John. I was their ride or die and loved my nights out with them, always feeling comfortable and never feeling judged. Of course when HIV and AIDS hit our world, I was horrified to see and hear how their community was treated and could never tolerate it; as my Mum put it, I could “start an argument in an empty house”. Apparently it wasn’t my fight according to the rest of the world, I disagreed and that’s been my allyship driver over all of these years.

So what is an Ally? Simply put, I believe us to be people who want to fight for the equality of a marginalised group that we’re not part of. I don’t have to walk in anyone else’s shoes, I just need to see unfair and unequitable language and behaviour and see it for what it is – wrong. And if I see and hear it then I’m afraid the mouthy, challenging, argumentative northerner kicks in. No one thanks you for being an Ally, you don’t get a badge of honour, it doesn’t earn you bragging rights and you don’t get a reward sticker and nor should you.

Allyship is your choice to stand up for what is right – an individual’s right to live their life as a good citizen, without prejudice.

So if you’re an Ally already, good on you but can you do more? If you’re honest enough to say you’re not yet an Ally, what can you do?

• Sponsor the work of LGBTQ+ colleagues, make sure they get the praise and acknowledgement they’re entitled to.
• Be an Amplifier, ensure marginalised voices are heard and respected.
• Become a Confidente, a safe person for LGBTQ+ colleagues to confide in and operate around by earning trust and mutual respect.
• Advocate for LGBTQ+ colleagues, using your power and influence to bring under represented groups into exclusive circles.
• Be a Scholar and learn about LGBTQ+ community challenges, not forgetting that not every member will want to educate you.
• Be a passionate Upstander – when you witness wrong-doing, challenge it in the moment, regardless of who is present.

June is PRIDE month and the theme this year is Peace, Love and Revolution. Get involved. Be An Ally.

Gill Burgess is a member of Capita's Leadership Council and a proud Pride ally.

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