Every year, during the month of June, the LGBTQ+ community celebrates pride month in a number of different ways.
As well as a being month long celebration to recognise the influence that LGBTQ+ people have had across the world, it’s usually a chance for peaceful protest and to raise awareness of issues affecting the community, although once again, many events are happening virtually.
Pride month is so important because it marks the start of huge change within the LGBTQ+ community. Although discrimination and injustices still remain globally, we have come a long way since the riots of 1969. By continuing to celebrate Pride, we keep raising awareness, improving the attitudes of society and encouraging inclusiveness.
If you follow us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, you may have noticed that we’ve joined the celebrations by using a rainbow version of our logo for the month. We’ve changed this to show support to our LGBTQ+ residents, colleagues and the wider community across Northampton.
We celebrate the diversity of our residents, our colleagues and our community. We hoped to celebrate this diversity alongside the wider Northampton community at Northampton Pride last year. Although this couldn’t go ahead, we’re looking forward to taking part in the next event to show our support for the LGBTQ+ community.
We’ve recently supported our staff to form an employee resource group to look at all aspects of inclusivity in our organisation. Their work includes promoting diversity and inclusion, planning awareness raising activities and making sure that our policies and ways of working are inclusive for all. We’ve worked with local organisations and speakers to provide talks and training sessions to our staff, and we’ll be looking at other work we can do to deliver more awareness raising sessions.
We offer support to our residents who experience hate crimes. It’s not okay to be targeted because of who you are, and you deserve to live your life free from abuse or violence. If you need our support, please head over to our page on hate crimes for more information: Hate Crimes
We provide support to all members of the community who are struggling. Our dedicated support team can help you with issues that are making it difficult for you to maintain your tenancy. Head to the supporting you pages to find out more: Supporting you
We also include organisations that support LGBTQ+ people when we provide information on support services. These support services include:
- Galop - the LGBT+ anti-violence charity. Galop support all LGBT+ people who've experienced hate crime, domestic abuse or sexual violence. Find out more: Galop - The LGBT+ anti-violence charity
- Switchboard LGBT+ Helpline. Switchboard provide an information, support and referral service for lesbians, gay men and bisexual and trans people – and anyone considering issues around their sexuality and/or gender identity. Head to their website for more information: Switchboard LGBT+ Helpline
- The Lowdown's LGBTQ+ support service offers a safe, non-judgmental and confidential space for young people to attend as and when they like. They support young people up to the age of 25, and also run a support group for parents and carers of young people that identify as LGBTQ+. Their website has more information on all of their groups: The Lowdown LGBTQ support services
We wish you a happy Pride Month. Follow us on Twitter or Facebook to see our updates, we’ll also be sharing posts and information about local LGBTQ+ organisations.
