Last year, we marched at London Pride and I couldn’t have felt prouder to work for Save the Children UK. We came together to make a visible commitment to further progress and celebrate what we’d achieved so far in promoting LGBT+-inclusivity across our organisation.
This year, we didn’t have such shiny T-shirts or pom-poms (always a bit of a loss in my view). With so much of our work happening online during this pandemic, we did however, make the most of an opportunity to plan events and initiatives with colleagues around the world.
As a co-chair of the SCUK LGBT+ allies staff network, I am often consulted on LGBT+-inclusion – which is great to see, and at times bewildering (‘I’m bi, and I’m being asked to speak on behalf of trans pals?’). Working alongside colleagues from different country offices this year helped to bring a broader perspective and context to our Pride initiatives. Collaborating with colleagues virtually has helped us to understand what Pride means in different contexts and to acknowledge the different language, acronyms and attitudes towards sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIE) used.
One of my highlights was speaking to senior members of staff from Save Cambodia, SCUS, SCUK and Save Nigeria in a panel discussion on our movement-wide SOGIE position policy (finalised and published at the end of 2019). This position policy recognises the harm that narrow attitudes towards people’s sexual orientation, gender identity and expression can cause to everyone – regardless of their SOGIE. It acknowledges the barriers children who identify with or are labelled as LGBT+ face. This policy is a good starting point towards becoming more LGBT+-inclusive in our work. However, there remain many questions around the effective operationalisation of this policy – especially in diverse contexts, some of which may have high instances of homophobic, transphobic and biphobic laws or commonly-held attitudes.
During the panel discussion, we discussed our roots as a gender-transformative organisation and our responsibility to deconstruct harmful gender norms. We debated our role as a child’s rights organisation, learning from each other’s perspectives, and pledged to do more to include all children in our work, recognising that we may need transformative approaches, not just sensitive approaches to include children of all SOGIE in our programmes.
On the point of broader inclusion work, another highlight of this month’s Pride has been our solidarity campaign. Mindful that the LGBT+ community are not the only community facing high instances of discrimination, marginalisation and abuse, we wanted to show solidarity with the BME community this month and beyond – as well as to acknowledge that members of the LGBT+ community who are also BME experience their identity differently to non-BME LGBT+ individuals, the challenges they face often exacerbated as a result. We organised a photo solidarity campaign where we asked staff to submit selfies (many featuring rainbow, trans and/or BLM visuals or symbols), alongside a list of commitments to take anti-racist action. If we’re not looking to dismantle social and structural hierarchies that oppress and marginalise in our society at all levels, then we’re not truly working towards equality.
There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives – Audre Lorde
Pride has been an incredible month here at SCUK and we’re so grateful for all we’ve learned in the process and for all the colleagues and friends who have been involved and offered their time and expertise. We’re looking forward to many more months this year of similar reflection, learning and advocacy.
Anna Thorne, Co-chair of Save the Children UK’s LGBT+ allies network
