Result's Rob Martin on how current reductive funding to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion is impacting on events like Pride.
It’s Pride month but Liverpool’s LGBTQ+ community won’t be celebrating with a parade this year.
The organisers of Liverpool Pride issued a statement a few weeks ago announcing the cancellation of this year’s march and events. The reasons for the decision are complex, but one in particular gives real food for thought.
Calls for a boycott of one of Pride’s sponsors over their ties to Israel and the funding of arms, led to the committee severing ties with the bank in question. But the shortfall in cash could not be made up - a lack of funds from other sources has led to the event being pulled altogether.
Pride has always been political. It started as a protest - a demand for rights, a call to action - and a celebration. It was a way to raise awareness, to influence a fairer society, to change laws and to raise much-needed funds, particularly so when the AIDS crisis was decimating gay men in our communities.
As Pride started to work, as it started to achieve its ambitions, and as rights improved (in some parts of the world - let’s not forget it’s still illegal to be gay in 64 countries and carries the death penalty in 12 of these), more and more corporate sponsorship shifted the emphasis from protest to party.
But what happens when that sponsorship stops?
Our current political climate has seen many organisations cutting back on their equity, diversity and inclusion spend - something we at Result are all too aware of. International brands like Disney, Amazon, Google, and Meta, have all announced major reductions on their EDIprogrammes, and this wave is trickling down to smaller organisations. Many UK brands are doing the same, providing fewer opportunities for corporate sponsorship and, potentially, a reduction in EDI practice in the workplace.
Last year, Google made over $30 billion in profit, so it’s not financial difficulties that are driving decisions to cut back on EDI spending for some.
At Result, we fully understand the value that EDI brings to people and organisations, both culturally and in terms of ROI. Findings from a survey of over 1000 organisations, carried out by the global management consultants McKinsey and Company, found that businesses with greater diversity in their leadership hugely outperformed those with less.
Simply put, investment in EDI results in a happier, healthier, more productive workforce. That’s both sound business sense and better for society.
Liverpool Pride’s decision to listen to their community and sever ties with a problematic sponsor shows that ‘community’ is still what the Pride movement is all about. But it also demonstrates what happens when other sources of funding that might have stepped in are no longer available because EDI spend is no longer a priority.
There has long been a call to bring Pride back to its community roots and, perhaps, the current climate might support that. However, it’s also the case that the LGBTQ+ ‘community’ has never been more fragmented - to the extent that a recent survey found that over a quarter of those who are supposedly represented within the LGBTQ+ community feel that they are not represented by it. Ironically, as the rainbow alphabet gets bigger, so does the exclusion felt by some who no longer see themselves reflected in what is supposed to be an inclusive community.
That’s a depressing reality which, combined with the impact of global politics, reminds us of the importance, value and power that united communities can bring. After all, if members of a community are tearing themselves apart, why should those against that community do anything other than stand back and watch it happen? In some parts of the world, though, where hard-fought-for rights are being threatened, policy as well as internal fragmentation is taking a massive toll.
In a world where the very principles of EDI are under attack, events like Pride matter more than ever.