Building safe and inclusive communities starts at home, which is why we are proudly supporting Pride this June.

For more than 50 years, Pride has been celebrated with parades, concerts and marches throughout our communities, with the Pride rainbow flag flying high and proud. But Pride didn’t start as a party. It started as a protest with people from the LGBTQI+ community fighting for equal rights in the Stonewall riots of 1969.

While society has come a long way since then, we are very aware that the fight for true equality is ongoing.

This Pride month, Torus Group colleagues have been showing their Pride across the workplace.

Offices have been decorated, meetings on Microsoft Teams have a sea of rainbows with Torus Pride flag backgrounds, pronouns added to email signatures, rainbow badges on lanyards and Pride lunch celebration parties to be hosted by colleagues across the Group.

To complement activities, colleagues shared the history of gay rights and Pride, the importance of pronounce and how Torus can become a more inclusive organisation in the Torus Talk Show, an internal TV programme.

Colleagues from the LGBTQI+ community were also gracious enough to share their experiences as part of our Remarkable People series, helping to give others a glimpse into what life has been like for them, both positive and negative.

Debbie Appleton, Torus Group Inclusion Lead commented:

“It’s important to celebrate Pride, increase the understanding of the LGBTQI+ community and foster inclusiveness in the workplace. Pride month is a fantastic time to raise awareness and its history but it’s just as equally important to make a positive impact for our LGBTQI+ colleagues and customers every day of the year and create a place where everyone belongs.”

To round off the Pride celebrations, colleagues and customers are excited to be joining Pride marches taking place across Warrington, St Helens and Liverpool throughout June and July.