A year on from sharing ‘my story,’ life has really changed for me, and I think that this was the beginning of a really positive transformation in my life both in and out of work.

It hadn’t even occurred to me until the day it was getting released that I hadn’t even come out to half my family and acquaintances on social media!

I have been in a relationship just over 18 months, and after this article, members of my family started inviting myself and my partner out for drinks around the town, and adding his name to Birthday and Christmas cards – something I never thought was going to happen.

Since becoming Realise’s Stonewall Champion and sharing my story, I’ve also had a number of people at work pull me to one side, and ask really sensitive questions about what they can do in certain situations to ensure that they are being the best support system for their learners.

To me, an ally is a person who doesn’t just wave a rainbow flag every June, goes to their local Pride event or someone who sits in front of a colourful Pride background on Zoom. It’s a person who takes some kind of action to ensure that they are supporting the LGBTQIA+ community all year round.

This year is the 10 year anniversary of the Marriage Act (Same Sex Couples) 2013 being passed, with the first marriage of same sex couples taking place in March 2014.

Despite this great landmark, we cannot take our eye off of the ball when it comes to continuing to support the rights of the LGBTQ+ community, especially with the events across the world in places like Uganda. The new bill in Uganda retains the harshest measures of punishment for identifying in the LGBTQ+ community, with the death penalty being a possible consequence.

This is why this month at Realise, we are looking to internally launch a piece to share with all of the teams so they can learn on how to support their LGBTQ learners in the best way possible. We don’t want to celebrate Pride month by just adding the Pride Progress flag to our logo, and having that as a tick box exercise – that’s just not enough. Realise understands the need for action, so our ally piece will be the platform of how we celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community 365 days a year, not just for the 30 days of June.

We are proud to be able to share our colleague’s thoughts about Pride Month and that they felt comfortable to share their views with us. Everyone has the right to work in a safe, inclusive, and respectful environment no matter their background, gender or sexuality and this something we strive for all year round at Realise. We are looking forward to sharing some more exciting content with you this month.

If you have been affected by a topic in this piece, or know someone who may be struggling, you can contact Switchboard LGBT here.

Find out more about Realise’s role as a Stonewall Diversity Champion here.