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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…
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?
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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