10 ways to celebrate Pride
By Debbie Garden - 8 June 2022
Over the next few months, we'll be seeing Pride celebrations, up and down the country and around the world. Here are a few ideas about ways to get involved with Pride and work on being more fully inclusive of LGBTQ+ young people.
If you've got activity ideas and recommendations for taking action, we'd love you to share them with us!
Wear your heart on your sleeve
Sprinkle yourself with some rainbow accessories:
- Hang your ID card on a rainbow lanyard.
- Dye your hair.
- Pin on a Pride badge.
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Book some brilliant diversity training
For some insightful, informative, safe and accessible training on LGBTQ+ diversity, book a session with some of the fantastic team of QSpace. They ran a fantastic session for us which incuded specific content on youth work settings. The low cost was also a bonus!
You can contact them on: qspacenorthampton@gmail.com
Check your project communications
Have look back over your social media content and newsletters over the past few months. How inclusive have your communications been? Have your posts been heteronormative? Were there exclusive or discriminatory assumptions? Were there any clear indicators that your project would be a place of safety and welcome? Are there changes to be made going forward?
Review the spaces you use
Are the physical places where you work safe and welcoming? We've looked at a few different advice and good practice guides and put together a checklist to help review offices, youth work venues and sessions. You can download it here.
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| You can also download these more detailed guides, which look at different aspects of provision: "Creating Safer Spaces for LGBTQ Youth" and "An Introduction to Supporting LGBTQ+ Children and Young People". |
| While we can't necessarily make changes in places that we rent/share/use (e.g. mentoring in schools), we can make ourselves aware of things that might be uncomfortable or distressing for young people and support them to raise concerns if they want to do so. |
Put your money where your heart is
There are all kinds of great charities which are doing everything from providing vital information and support, working for greater inclusion and equality, and fighting for basic human rights for LGBTQ+ people across the world. Here's a list of 10 recommended by Pink News. Have a read through this list, do some research of your own, and make a donation to invest in a more inclusive and kinder world.
Have Pride in your programme
Throughout the month, include some Pride activities in your sessions. You could:
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Remind young people that you're there to help
We won't always get it right, but we are committed to Worth Unlimited not only being inclusive, but also advocating for inclusion and challenging discriminatory behaviour, wherever it is experienced by young people we are working with (other agencies, peers, family etc.).
Take time this month to remind yourself about the policies you have which relate to inclusion (e.g. Equal Opportunities, Anti-bullying, Behaviour, Child Protection) and the responsibilities you have under each of them. Make a point of ensuring that young people know how you can support them.
Engaging in local Pride celebrations
Find out when Pride is being celebrated in your area (here's a calendar of dates) and what is being planned. As well as going along, and promoting events online and to young people, you could donate, volunteer to steward and connect with Christians at Pride groups.
Get social
Use your voice on social media:
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Engage with inspiring stories
Immerse yourself in the stories of some LGBTQ+ people, whether fictional, historical or biographical. How about:
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