Proud, to celebrate Pride.

At Darling Associates Architects we are so proud, to celebrate Pride. The team were treated to a talk delivered by our very own HR Director, Melissa D’Souza in association with Building Equality UK.

As per their website; ‘Building Equality is an alliance of construction consultants, engineers, developers, contractors, and institutions who are passionate about working together and harnessing our collective power to drive LGBTQ+ inclusion in the construction, engineering and built environment industry. 

A Focus on Intersectionality

When we go beyond LGBTQ+ we discover intersectionality. This is the framework for understanding how social identities overlap and interact. This along with systems of power that oppress and advantage people in the workplace and broader community. People from all walks of life; someone of a certain gender identity, military status, a religion or faith, family status, native-born or immigrant, what language they speak, age they are, nationality, race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, the physical/mental ability one has, the socio-economic status, ideologies and education -these all determine how much privilege and discrimination we may experience.

Battles

Knowing this, it is easy to conclude that each one of us has our own battle.

LGBTQ+ individuals are 50% more likely to have mental health problems and twice as likely to attempt suicide – Stonewall

31% of LGBTQ+ individuals feel working in construction has had a negative impact on their mental health – CN’s Survey

For a more inclusive workplace supporting the LGBTQ+ community is therefore crucial for wellbeing.

Supporting the LGBTQ+ community

A person who openly challenges homophobic, biphobic and transphobic language and behaviour and that actively promotes LGBTQ+ equality but does not necessarily identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bi or trans is an ALLY.

A – accepting

L – listening

L – learning

Y – year round

The important message we all took away from the talk is that through allyship and using our privilege, we can create a culture of helping others around us to make the “start line” more fair and equal.

Pride in the Studio

We definitely enjoyed decorating the studio to show how proud we are to be an inclusive team. The vases were rainbow layered with Quality Streets chocolate – that didn’t last long!

A little pride-love on our notice board

Vases aren’t just for flowers!

Kitchen colours!

Greeting everyone at reception

proud to celebrate pride