Published: 3 June 2024
June is Pride Month – where LGBTQ+ communities around the world are celebrated.
It’s also a time to look at the progress we’ve made and commit further to LGBTQ+ inclusion. We believe in building a Society for everyone, one that supports our LGBTQ+ colleagues, members, and the community. Here are some examples of what we’ve done over the past 12 months.
Donating to Pride of Place Leeds
In 2023, we donated £41,500 to Pride of Place Leeds. This charity aims to create a vibrant and sustainable community in central Leeds where LGBTQ+ people can live, work, and enjoy life independently and safely. A quarter of the youth homeless population in the UK identify as being LGBTQ+, with rejection and abuse from family members due to their identity often being the driving force behind their homelessness*.
The money we donated helped Pride of Place pay for a Project Manager to locate and establish a site for the project. “The funding which has been generously pledged by Leeds Building Society will help us make a huge difference to the LGBTQ+ community in Leeds,” said Jane Stageman, from Pride of Place Living.
Our support of Pride of Place doesn’t stop with the donation - our colleague-led LGBTQ+ forum will continue to work with them in creating and supporting safe living for the community.
Take a look at the brilliant work Pride of Place Leeds are doing.
Going for Gold
We know our colleagues make the difference, so we’re committed to having a culture where we value and enable all our colleagues to be their best.
We were so proud last year to achieve the Inclusive Employers Gold Accreditation. This standard provides bespoke, action-focused feedback that employers can use to improve their inclusion strategies. It highlights the steps we’ve taken to embed an inclusive culture at the Society. Even better, we were the first building society to achieve this.
We did it by:
- Demonstrating our efforts to recruit, develop, and retain the best and most diverse talent
- Showcasing that we support and educate our colleagues on their allyship journeys
- Promoting the work of our five colleague-led forums covering DiverseAbility, Gender, LGBTQ+, Ethnic and Cultural Heritage, and Wellbeing
An active LGBTQ+ forum
On top of all of this good work, our LGBTQ+ forum have been working hard to educate and support us all, bringing positive changes in areas such as:
- Updating forms for members and colleagues to ensure everyone is correctly represented
- Assessing the uniforms worn by our branch colleagues, to ensure everyone feels comfortable regardless of gender identity
- Inviting guest speakers to share their experiences of living life authentically
- Encouraging colleagues to wear pronoun badges to display how they identify
Join us at Leeds Pride 2024
We’re once again a Premium Sponsor at Leeds Pride. We had so much fun last year and can’t wait to do it all again. It’s a great opportunity to get behind an important cause. Feel free to come and meet some of our colleagues who’ll be flying the flag of inclusion and diversity, celebrating being a Society for everyone.
* https://www.crisis.org.uk/ending-homelessness/about-lgbtqplus-homelessness/
