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EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
RAILSTAFF SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2020
PRIDE DURING A THE ANNUAL PRIDE FESTIVALS PROVIDE A VISIBLE AND COLOURFUL REMINDER THAT THE LGBT+ MOVEMENT IS NOW (LARGELY) AN ACCEPTED PART OF SOCIETY. CANCELLED IN 2020 DUE TO THE COVID-19 CRISIS, HOW DID THE MOVEMENT KEEP ITS MOMENTUM GOING?
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n the rail industry, the various LGBT+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender + others and supporters) networks worked together to move the whole celebration online. Paul Prentice, chair of Southeastern’s LGBT+ sOUTheastern network, reports on a unique event.
Who would have thought that the rail industry’s LGBT+ community would have been able to get together to celebrate the annual Pride season during a pandemic? On the face of it, the task seemed impossible, as the restrictions of physically congregating in cities across Britain – as Network Rail and train operators and other parts of the industry have increasingly done in recent years – would have put paid to Pride in the way many of us know and love it. With 2020 Pride London cancelled, along with every other physical event, a new approach was needed in light of 2020’s unprecedented circumstances. The industry has come some way, over the past five years or so, in celebrating the diversity in its ranks, and it would have been a shame not to have marked the Pride season this year at all. June traditionally marks the beginning of Pride events in many places across the world, although, in the various parts of the UK, they take place as early as May and as late as the August Bank Holiday. Doing the whole thing online meant that some of the difficult logistics around arranging the usual programme of events were overcome.
NETWORK GROUPING Led by Harry Levey from Network Rail’s LGBT+ network Archway, in partnership with a team of representatives from 17 companies including Avanti West Coast, East Midlands Railway, Great Western Railway, Merseyrail, Network Rail, ScotRail, Southeastern, South Western Railway, Transport Focus and West Midlands Trains, a diverse programme of events allowed people to simply log on, watch, and participate wherever and whenever they were able to. Events included an online streaming of the iconic 2014 film Pride, jointly hosted by ScotRail and Southeastern, while a seminar held by Network Rail looked at the history of Pride. No lockdown experience would have been complete without a quiz, and so the Midlands train operating companies (TOCs) East Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway, and West Midlands Trains clubbed together to put on such an event.
RAIL INDUSTRY PRESENTS… Pride festival hosts: • Apeksha Naik, West Midlands Trains; • Christopher Buckley, East Midlands Railway; • Harry Levey, Network Rail; • Jackie Painter, Network Rail; • Karen Wallace, ScotRail; • Naseem Anwar, Network Rail; • Paul Prentice, Southeastern; • Paula Reed, Network Rail; • Paul Blair, Great Western Railway; • Shane Andrews, Network Rail; • Tracey Upton, Merseyrail; • Tom Bell, South Western Railway. RAILSTAFF.CO.UK | @RAIL_STAFF | FACEBOOK.COM/RAILSTAFF
