Blog 30 June 2025

Your Allyship is Essential: Pride Month 2025 at The Forward Trust

By Rosie Watson, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Coordinator

This Pride month, Forward Trust focused on allyship. Allyship is an active and consistent effort to use your privilege and power to support and advocate for people with less privilege.

Pride has always been a protest – a fight for equal rights for LGBTQ+ people. From the first UK Pride march in 1972, allies have been essential. Supporters recognised the broader fight against discrimination and inequality and played a crucial role in shifting public perceptions and dismantling institutional homophobia.

Too often, the fight for equality falls on the affected group. There is still significant work to be done before LGBTQ+ people experience true equality, and we need your help.

Read on to learn about what Forward have been doing this Pride month to encourage allyship.

One person at a time is enough to build a community of allies.

Proud to be an ally: why your allyship is essential

Proud, Forward’s LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group (ERG), hosted a webinar exploring allyship within our organisation. They invited two guest speakers to share their experiences:

Laura, a graduate of treatment with Forward, a volunteer, and a lesbian woman.
Claire, a member of the Proud ERG and a proud mum of two gay sons.

The event looked at some challenges Laura and Claire faced in their journeys, and how allyship could have helped them. They emphasised the real challenge of homophobia from colleagues, friends, and family. They talked about how having policy/legislation to protect their rights was key, and having peers speak up about what support is available for the LGBTQ+ community was useful.

Laura highlighted the similarities in addiction and experiences as an LGBTQ+ person in terms of feelings of shame. She talked about the power of seeing EDI and LGBTQ+ displays at her treatment centre and how it made her realise that she doesn’t need to hide her identity; that she is welcome there. We have since circulated a series of posters to display in services that reiterate that Forward is a place for everyone.

Both speakers shared the power of being kind and never shying away from supporting someone who is struggling. They talked about the importance of building a community of people around you and raising awareness of the support the LGBTQ+ population needs.

Tips for being a better ally included:

Being authentic with yourself.
Having the confidence to ask questions.
Putting effort into your own learning and development around LGBTQ+ topics.
Never underestimating the power of a conversation with one person.

Just being a decent human to others is half the journey.

Allyship in action: standing with the LGBTQ+ community in the UK

Helen Greenard, Director of Service Development and Executive Sponsor to the Proud ERG, wrote a fantastic blog on what allyship looks like at the leadership level:

“When people with privilege use their voice, it can shift the culture. It signals to others that inclusion isn’t just the responsibility of those affected- it’s everyone’s responsibility.”

Read Helen’s blog here.

Forward at Canterbury Pride

Darren Lacey, Inclusion Coordinator, and a team of Proud Forward staff attended Canterbury Pride:

“It was a fantastic day walking the Pride march, with the city centre lined with supporters. At the Forward stall, there was lots of interest around the ‘drug box’ (a selection of boxes showing what different drugs look like and information about the desired effects and side effects), which prompted great discussions about harm minimisation.”

Darren and his team also trained 12-15 people on the use of naloxone – a fantastic outcome in terms of safety around drug use!

All in all, Canterbury Pride was a great day of celebrating and spreading awareness of the work Forward does to support our LGBTQ+ staff and service users.

Access Pride is back!

Access Pride at The Brink, Liverpool, is not just an event but a movement sparked by the voices of the community. Pride must be inclusive—not just in spirit, but in practice.

Access Pride is a standalone event, designed to address diverse access requirements and ensure those who may not thrive in a busy environment feel truly welcome at Pride. It is a celebration of LGBTQ+ joy, creativity, and community in all its forms.

Date: Saturday, 26 July.

Location:The Brink, Parr St, L1 4JN.

Details: Free, inclusive, and fully accessible.

Exploring experiences of substance use stigma in LGBTQIA+ communities

Darren Lacey, Inclusion Coordinator at Forward, hosted a two-part webinar series with the Anti-Stigma Network.

Stigma related to drug and alcohol use within LGBTQIA+ communities involves deeply layered and interconnected social, cultural, and structural issues. These webinars aimed to unpack some of these experiences, share perspectives on what inclusive treatment looks like and how we can better support these communities. View the webinar recordings here.

Continuing your allyship

Allyship is not a title – it’s a commitment. It’s about consistently showing up, speaking out, and standing in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community- especially when it’s uncomfortable or inconvenient. In a time when rights, dignity, and safety are still not guaranteed for all, our collective voice and action matter more than ever.