Whilst we can't take to the streets to celebrate Brighton & Hove Pride this year, we will still be showing our support.

Last year, Domestic & General sponsored and took part in Brighton & Hove Pride. Taking to the streets with over 100 D&G people, over 20 flags and a float to match. The diversity, culture and sense of community are exactly why we wanted to be involved and will continue to be.

Although the event is officially cancelled this year, it won't stop us from celebrating Brighton & Hove Pride from home, listening to each other, supporting each other, and spreading the message far and wide. It's vital that we still recognise and celebrate the importance of Pride and its role in celebrating diversity!

Brighton & Hove Pride 2019

To kick off the weekend, we spoke to Dean Barden, our Operations Process Lead, who was pivotal to our involvement in the parade last year

Dean, what was it like organising a Pride parade entry?

We were delighted to be asked to work on the Pride project. In all honesty, we underestimated the huge amount of work that would go into making it a reality, especially while continuing to do our normal roles!

We've worked to bring together a fantastic team of people: The Pride @ Work team from the Brighton office, Pave London, Brighton & Hove Pride, CBRE (our facilities providers) and our colleagues in Creative Services, Marketing and Communications.

What were the reasons behind Domestic & General taking part and sponsoring Brighton Pride 2019?

Pride is a key event in Brighton & Hove’s calendar where we all come together to celebrate the diversity of our fabulous city. Personally, as a part of the LGBTQ+ community and having worked at D&G for 8 years it was about time we had a presence at pride.

D&G has a wonderfully diverse group of people working at our Brighton site, so our parade entry was all about celebrating this diversity.

What was walking in the parade like?

It was the most incredible experience. The excitement from the crowd for our parade entry was so uplifting. It was great to dance and celebrate with my colleagues while representing a truly diverse range of LBGTQ+ identities with a huge range of flags we carried.

One of my favourite moments was when out float happened to stop next to the only anti-gay protestors I saw on the entire route. The reaction from our staff was to drown out whatever the lead preacher was saying with whistles and boos, waving our flags directly at them.

A reminder of what the parade is really about!

What did people think about the Domestic & General float?

Every time the smoke or rainbow confetti flew out of our float there was a huge cheer from the crowd, so I took that as a good sign!

We had some fantastic direct feedback while on the route from a lady in the crowd who was impressed with how our message of pride in our diverse workforce came across, she said she had never seen the intersex flag flown in the parade before!

Thoughts on Pride 2021?

YAASSSSS! It’s going to be bigger and better than ever, bring it on!

So, what can you do to show your support this year?

Whilst you can’t go out and take part in the Brighton and Hove Parade this year, you can take pride in listening, learning, accepting people, supporting each other, educating yourselves and expressing yourself instead.

From small gatherings, educating yourself on how to become a better ally, or even just sitting back and watching the virtual show, you can show your support and make positive changes.

Keep an eye out on our social media where we will be showcasing some of our favourite memories from last year. To see the full timetable for the Brighton & Hove Pride, visit www.brighton-pride.org.

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