Pride Month at Odgers Interim

June is Pride Month. Here at Odgers Interim, we recognise that this is an opportunity to celebrate and educate about all matters related to LGBTQ+ Communities. We have long marked Pride Month and we thought that it might be helpful to share information about some of the activities that we have taken part in over the years. 

All our internal endeavours related to equality, diversity and inclusion sit under the umbrella of our allies initiative. Our allies are an organic movement who organise themselves in groups under ten headings:

• Age
• Disability
• Ethnicity
• Faith
• Gender
• LGBTQ+
• Menopause
• Mental Health
• Neurodiversity
• Social Mobility

These groups then plan and implement a diary of events throughout the year, pertaining to the subject matter, which then culminates in an annual Unlimited Festival. Colleagues do not need to personally identify with any of the above strands or protected characteristics. Rather, they need to be passionate about the subject matter and prepared to make a personal investment into learning and growing. 

In the context of Pride, we initially started out by providing a potted history of Pride and why it is still important. This was then backed up by colleagues’ personal stories of being out at work. The following year saw us run a culture festival. This included signposting to cultural content, an examination of queer representation within the context of fine art and a consideration of sexual identity and race. Over the years there have been countless reviews, bulletins and reflections on the subject matter, which have covered International Transgender Day of Visibility.

June this year has already seen us focus in on conversion therapy as a subject. The coming days and weeks will see us considering moving from being allies to advocates, sharing more of our personal stories about why we are supporters.