I’ve been learning a lot about learning recently. A friend of mine recently pointed out the stark reality of how different people gain knowledge and understanding. Most poignantly, some of us choose to learn about tolerance and inclusivity, while others have those lessons thrust upon them through unavoidable life experiences; life experiences which often reveal the worst, most prejudiced sides of human nature.
The question front of my mind this week is what Pride really means. We hear it, we talk about it, we see logos converted into rainbow colours, some of us get involved in Pride activities, but how many of us who consider ourselves allies of the LGBTQ+ community really know what Pride is about and how personal it is to the individuals it represents? I decided it was time for me to stop talking and start listening, so I asked friends and colleagues from the LGBT community, the question: What does Pride mean to you?
Sarah O’Connell, host of the Sarah O’Connell Show on YouTube, comedian, film critic and festival host seen on BBC Breakfast & Horizon, on MTV and in Cosmo | @SarahO_Connell
“Pride of course means being proud of yourself and your community and being able to live safely as your authentic self. But it’s also so much more than that too. It’s important to remember that Pride month is in commemoration of the Stonewall riots and uprising. It serves as a reminder of how far we’ve come, but also how far the community still has to go.
“Around the world, LGBT people are discriminated against, treated as second class citizens, subject to violence, imprisonment, and murdered simply for being themselves. In 2020, some hateful governments are sadly still seeking to marginalise and strip away basic human rights. Life is especially hard for black trans people. It’s important for allies to speak up against homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, and racism in all of its forms, so that everyone can live in a safer, more tolerant, and loving society.”
I’ve been lucky enough to be brought up in a household where treating everyone with respect and as your equal was a ceaseless mantra. It was non-negotiable. I’m also lucky enough to have friends from diverse backgrounds who I’ve grown up with and learnt from along the way. Neither of these statements are vaguely intended to suggest I’m any kind of finished article. Nor do I think that I by any means know and understand everything there is to know or that I should know.
My point is that I’ve always been encouraged to follow a path that welcomes the differences I see in friends and strangers as that which makes them unique and interesting, just as I’m grateful to the people in my life who love me for who I am.
Baga Chipz MBE, drag queen, actor and television personality known for RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and set to appear on Celebrity Master Chef UK this summer | @ChipShopBird
“Pride to me is everything. About all coming together as a community, support and acceptance. Pride is also about having fun and being who you are. Each year Pride for me gets better and better.
“Usually I’m performing at Prides, this year I’m taking part in a lot of virtual Prides. In real life or virtually, Pride is a fantastic time of year and one we should all be proud of.”
I do my best to be an open-minded, decent person, but beyond that I’m just me and if I needed to hide that, if the people in my life didn’t celebrate that, then it would be both exhausting and damaging.
Charlie Martin, racing driver aiming to make LGBT history at the 24 Hours of Le Mans and Stonewall Sports Champion | @GoCharlieM
“Pride feels very different this year, against the backdrop of global events like COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter, I don’t think we’ve ever felt such a deep need to come together and heal as a society. Whilst Pride is traditionally a celebration, it’s also a protest, it’s symbolic of the community’s struggle over the years, and this is still the case – both the US and UK are currently trying to repeal transgender rights.
“Therefore, I feel like Pride 2020 is about unity, it’s about coming together, and especially supporting the BAME community right now. It’s about all of society listening and understanding how we can learn from one another. It’s reminding ourselves that when we come together, we can accomplish anything when we are united.”
A year ago this Pride Month, I took on the role of the Chair of the PRCA’s LGBTQ+ group. I took the role as an ally to the community because I believe strongly in empowering diverse thinking to inspire open and inclusive dialogue in organisations and the industry. My first event was co-hosted with my friend Charlie Martin; an incredible woman, laser-focused on her ambition to be the first transgender driver to compete in Le Mans, yet never too busy to share her experiences or help others on their journeys.
The extremely low attendance at the event stunned me. It was like I’d been living in a bubble, naively believing that it was our role to harness latent support and bring everyone along on our mission. Instead I felt like the tree that falls in the forest – how do we know it even made a sound? In my mind the cause had been building momentum for decades, so how was it possible our considerable efforts had catalysed so little?
Matt Bishop, Communications Director of W Series, the single-seater motor racing championship for female drivers only | @TheBishF1
“As a 57-year-old gay Londoner, I’ve been going to Pride London since the mid-1980s, when it was called Gay Pride, then Lesbian and Gay Pride, and was more of a protest than a carnival. I missed a few Prides from 1996 to 2017, when I was working in Formula 1 and therefore attended most Grands Prix, some of which were scheduled on Pride weekends, but I’ve attended them whenever I could.
“I love Pride and I always enjoy catching up with friends old and new, drinking a bit too much in Soho Square, and remembering lost comrades. I’m sad that Pride London won’t be happening this summer, but there’s simply no way you could combine it with social distancing so cancelling it was the right decision.”
Lesson 1: We weren’t going to be able to capitalise on existing engagement, we needed to start by raising awareness of our mission and why it is important and relevant to everyone.
All the stats are out there. A 2019 report from Outvertising, formerly Pride AM, tells us that only 1 in 5 LGBT Londoners feels comfortable showing affection to their partner in public, while 58% of LGBT workers aged 18-24 disguise their sexuality because they are afraid of LGBTQ+ discrimination in Britain. Looking at Stonewall’s facts and figures page only adds to the chilling reality of this discrimination.
Tea Uglow, APAC Google Creative Lab Director, according to ArtsHub 2019 “one of the least predictable people allowed in public by BigTech,” and author of the newly published Loud & Proud, an anthology of speeches from 150 years of gay rights activism | @Teaellu
“In my world Pride is not a party, I don’t feel welcome anyway. Pride is a pinkwashing myth that gay rights started at Stonewall. Pride is in the fight, not the fanfare. There should be nothing to celebrate until we are all treated equally.
“So I’m burning up about the way we have used Pride to silence ourselves rather than make demands. The huge Brooklyn Black Trans Lives Matter march is a Pride march – it’s about homophobia more than racism. But it isn’t presented that way, and it won’t be seen that way. It makes me cross.”
Shocking statistics of intolerance persist despite Instagram revealing that over 50% of its users identify as not being completely heterosexual. According to LGBT Capital, in 2018 the estimated UK spending power of the LGBTQ community reached $137 billion. But commercial evidence goes deeper than proving the power of the ‘pink pound’.
The majority of the public, whether part of the LGBTQ+ community or not, respond positively to LGBTQ visibility – not token representation but an accurate reflection of our rich and diverse community.Outvertising reminds us that “LGBTQ representation is not just about appealing to a niche pocket of people; it’s about making your brand attractive to a broader audience, an audience which is increasingly open towards LGBTQ visibility. In one 2016 Harvard Business Review study, 71% of LGBTQ respondents and 82% of allies said they were more likely to purchase from a company that supported LGBTQ equality.”
Jon Holmes, Senior Home Page Editor at Sky Sports, where he co-ordinates business support for Stonewall’s Rainbow Laces campaign, and founder and lead of Sports Media LGBT+ – an industry network, advocacy and consultancy group that is helping to build a community of LGBT+ people and allies across sport | @JonBoy79
“Working in sport, there was a time when I struggled to see myself in Pride. I didn’t feel that sense of freedom to be myself because the environment around me didn’t yet acknowledge the LGBT+ people within it.
“I’m happy to say that’s changing. The Football Association, ECB Cricket, and so many LGBT-inclusive clubs and groups marched in Pride In London last year, and that visibility is growing elsewhere in the UK and around the world too, particularly in the US and Canada. I think it’s hugely important that Pride is truly for everyone, and having sport included means a great deal to me and so many others.”
The compelling human argument and the business case both point towards inclusivity being the only way forward. Yet still we hear about widespread discrimination. Why? To get a better insight we hosted a roundtable of marketing communications industry leaders from businesses including Stonewall, Sky, YouGov and the NHS to hear their views. Our key question: How can we build cultures that are accepting, welcoming and embrace the thinking of staff who proudly identify as LGBTQ+? Our intention was to create a manifesto for positive action.
Michael Gunning, professional swimmer currently competing on the World Class Pathway, having been to two World Swimming Championships currently the 200M Freestyle and 200M Butterfly defending National Record Holder for Team Jamaica | @MichaelGunning1
“I feel very new to the LGBTQ+ Community, and I only attended my very first Pride event last year, but I learnt so many wonderful things about myself that had never crossed my mind before. No-one should EVER be made to feel ashamed, worried or scared of being themselves!
“Whether its gender, ethnicity or sexuality, we are all EQUAL and Pride is about celebrating who we are and connecting with people all around the world in unison. As my role being the first Caribbean LGBT athlete, I think Pride is about creating a safe space for people to feel like they are accepted and can be themselves, and I will continue to do what I can to help make this world a safer place.”
Lesson 2: Yes, the actions and buy-in of leadership are critical to effecting positive change, but to understand what the most pressing concerns are and where we should start, we need to be inclusive and to talk to as many people as possible in PR and communications workplaces, both members of the LGBTQ+ community and not.
As such, this Monday 22nd June, for Pride Month, the PRCA is launching a members’ survey in partnership with our extremely supportive partners YouGov to get more insight into exactly how inclusive workplaces are of LGBTQ+ team members in 2020. I’m sure the results will teach me yet another lesson that will move us forward on our journey.
Watch this space and keep in touch. You can contact me by direct message on LinkedIn or @ktraxton on Twitter.
Katie Traxton is an ESA Board Director and Chief Communications Officer at Formula E. She was previously Managing Partner at WeAreFearless, ESA’s Pan-Europe Sponsorship Agency of the Year.