This year on 7 July over 500 LGBT+ parade groups will march through central London. Every year the debate arises as to whether Pride is relevant in 21st century Britain, and the answer is yes! This year’s theme is #PrideMatters. We’ve come a long way, but there’s still a way to go.
This week the UK Government Equalities Office published the results of its National LGBT survey. The survey was the largest of its kind with over 110,000 LGBT and intersex respondents from all walks of life sharing their personal views and experience. Despite the progress made in so many ways over the last 30 years, some of the results were quite sad to read.
- More than two thirds of respondents said they would actively avoid holding hands with their same-sex partner in public through fear of negative reaction.
- 2 in 5 respondents had experienced an incident because they were LGBT.
- 9 in 10 of the most serious incidents went unreported.
Here at Withers we are proud to support our LGBT+ colleagues around the world and will continue to raise awareness and continually strive for greater inclusion in the workplace. Taking small actions to stand up and support our LGBT+ colleagues, friends and family members is one step closer to making stats like these a thing of the past.
Diversity is a constant theme in our day to day work and crucial to our recruitment processes. We believe everyone should bring their full selves to work. To support that, we have a number of schemes and campaigns to help us reach all areas of society and attract talent regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability or background.
We know that change will only happen if we all stand together to ensure inclusion in all areas of our society. That's why we are sending out a clear message on social media, check out our LinkedIn and Twitter pages, they've had a Pride makeover!
Happy Pride for those attending the celebrations, and for those watching the World Cup, good luck!
