11 ways to mark Pride Month

As Pride Month 2022 draws to a close, we look at ways that you can mark Pride. There are ideas of ways to celebrate in your area of work with your team, as well as things you can do in your own time.

1. Display your pronouns

Displaying your pronouns is one way to make a more inclusive environment for trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming people. You can add your pronouns to your email signature or NHS staff and students can get a #Hello My Name is badge with your pronouns on it. For more information on pronouns, check out these links: 

• What are pronouns and why are they important?
• What should I do if I get somebody's pronouns wrong?
• Why should I put pronouns on my email signature? 

2. Wear your NHS Rainbow Badge with pride

The NHS Rainbow Badge started at Evelina London 2019 as a way of showing support for the LGBT+ community. Make sure to wear yours with Pride throughout June! Speak to your local Trust network about how you can sign up.

3. Create a display in your area of work or study

If you have a whiteboard or notice board where you work, could you create a display for Pride month? Last year Maya Asir, highly specialist speech and language therapist at Evelina London, created this display which raised awareness around some LGBT+ issues.

4. Look at your local EDI policies

Promoting diversity, equality, accessibility, and inclusion plays an essential part in everything we do across King’s Health Partners and there are policies in place to support staff and students to do this.

During Pride month look at your intranet to get an idea of local policies.

5. Learn about LGBT+ people from history

Pride month is the perfect time to learn about important LGBT+ figures throughout history. Bishopsgate Institute runs a number of online and in-person talks plus opportunities to visit their extensive archive. You could also check out Desire, love, identity – an LGBTQ tour of the British Museum. This free tour runs from 12 June - 30 July and explores objects in the museum linked to themes of desire, love and identity.

6. Read a book by an LGBT+ writer

Here are a few recommendations of books by LGBT+ writers, fiction and non-fiction, from Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust staff members. Links to purchase them from London’s oldest independent LGBT+ bookshop Gays The Word.

• The Transgender Issue – Shon Faye
• All The Things She Said – Daisy Jones
• Bad Gays, A Homosexual History – Huw Lemmey & Ben Millar
• The Arena of the Unwell – Liam Konneman
• Heartstopper Vol.1 – Alice Oseman
• Our Wives Under The Sea - Julia Armfield

7. Learn about intersectionality

Legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” in 1989 to describe how systems of oppression overlap to create distinct experiences for people with multiple identity categories.

To learn more about intersectionality watch Crenshaw explain this in the video below:

https://youtu.be/-DW4HLgYPlA

If you’d like to understand intersectionality in healthcare you could also watch the helpful video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwqnC1fy_zc

8.  Visit an LGBT+ space in London

• London LGBTQ+ Community Centre

The London LGBTQ+ Community Centre in Blackfriars is a safe, sober, intersectional community centre and café where all LGBTQ+ people are welcome.

• Glass House London

An exciting new LGBTQIA+ venue in Shoreditch led by Glass House Projects featuring an intersectional bookshop café, a bar and event space.

• Gay’s the Word

Central London’s Gay's The Word is the UK's oldest LGBT bookshop and a touchstone for the broader LGBT+ community.

• Outsavvy

Find out about LGBT+ events happening in London, as well as online events, by visiting the Outsavvy website or by downloading their app.

 9.  Watch an LGBT+ movie or TV show

• Pride  – Amazon Prime
  Based on a true story, the film depicts a group of lesbian and gay activists who raised money to help families affected by the British miners' strike in 1984.

• Heartstopper  – Netflix
  Teens Charlie and Nick discover their unlikely friendship might be something more as they navigate school and young love in this coming-of-age series.

• Pose – Netflix/ BBC iPlayer
  In the New York of the late '80s and early '90s, this is a story of ball culture and the gay and trans community, the raging AIDS crisis, and capitalism.

• Feel Good– Channel 4/ Netflix
  Stand-up comic Mae Martin navigates a passionate, messy new relationship with her girlfriend, George, while dealing with the challenges of sobriety.
• It’s a Sin - Channel 4/ Netflix
  With their lives tested as they grow up in the shadow of the AIDS crisis, five friends are determined to live and love more fiercely than ever.
• Killing Eve - Netflix / BBC iPlayer
  When a spy tracks down a stylish assassin, the hunter becomes the hunted. A bloody, funny thriller about two women lethally obsessed with each other.

10.  Give to an LGBT+ charity 

There are many LGBT+ charities you can donate time and money to. Here are a small handful: 

• The Outside Project

London's LGBT+ community shelter, centre and domestic abuse refuge

• Kaleidoscope Trust

UK-based charity focused on fighting for the human rights of LGBT+ people across the Commonwealth

• Galop

Charity who support LGBT+ people who have experienced abuse and violence

• Gendered Intelligence

A charity that works to increase understandings of gender diversity and improve the lives of trans people.

• Opening Doors

The largest UK charity providing activities, events, information and support services specifically for LGBT+ people over 50.

11.   Follow LGBT+ voices online 

• Harry Hitchens (Instagram: @harryhitchens) filmmaker and founder of Ban Conversion Therapy, a coalition of LGBTQIA+ and faith communities and organisations, and mental health practitioners united in calling for the Government to Ban Conversion Therapy and support victims and survivors.
• Munroe Bergdorf (Instagram: @munroebergdorf) activist, model and host of podcast the The Way We Are and host of the Channel 4, 2018 documentary What Makes A Woman.
• Yasmin Benoit (Instagram: @theyasminbenoit) is an English model, activist, and writer. She has promoted the visibility of asexuality, aromanticism and is the Founder of the UK's first asexual rights initiative.
• Ben Hunte (Instagram: @benhunte) formerly BBC’s first LGBT Correspondent, reporting on stories surrounding sexuality and gender, now working for Vice World News investigating stories about LGBTQ people, race, and inequality from across the world.
• Charlie Craggs (Instagram: @charlie_craggs) transgender actress, activist, and author and recent host of the BBC Three documentary Transitioning Teens about transgender teenagers waiting to be seen by the NHS regarding their transitions.

This is an adapted version of an article originally written by Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS FT LGBT+ network. Our thanks to Joe Parry, Jennifer Wright, Holly Salisbury and Ben Gross for their contributions.