June is Pride month. And yes, you’ll notice the internet turning rainbow. But before Pride became a fixture on the corporate calendar, Sovereign was already doing something about it.
Back in the early 2000s, long before “allyship” entered the business lexicon, Sovereign created a dedicated brand called Sovereign Alternative, specifically to serve the LGBTQI+ community. Based in London, it ran seminars, produced its own collateral, built a website, and even landed coverage in the Daily Telegraph. For its time, it was bold. Most firms weren’t going near this space.
The brand didn’t last forever, and in all honesty that’s partly a good thing. Over the following two decades, civil union legislation spread across many of the countries we operate in. Attitudes shifted. The specific need for a separate service became less pressing, because equality (slowly, imperfectly) started catching up.
But the intent behind it never went away.
A quick history of Pride
Pride began not as a celebration but as a protest. On 28 June 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City. The community fought back. Those riots sparked a movement, and a year later, the first Pride marches took place in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago.
The rainbow flag came shortly after, designed in 1977 by Gilbert Baker, an artist and activist asked by Harvey Milk to create a symbol for the community. The original had eight colours, each with meaning: life, healing, sunlight, nature, art, serenity, spirit. Over time it was refined to the six-stripe version most people recognise today.
The flag has evolved since. The Progress Pride Flag, designed by Daniel Quasar, adds a chevron of black, brown, light blue, pink and white stripes, representing people of colour, those living with HIV/AIDS, and the trans community. In 2021, a yellow triangle with a purple circle was added to represent intersex people. It’s a flag that keeps growing, because the community it represents keeps growing too.
There are now dozens of Pride flags. A few you might see this month:
🏳️🌈 Rainbow flag: LGBTQI+ community as a whole
🏳️⚧️ Transgender flag: created by Monica Helms in 1999; light blue, pink and white
💗 Bisexual flag: pink, purple and blue, designed by Michael Page in 1998
💛 Non-binary flag: yellow, white, purple and black, created by Kye Rowan in 2014
🟡 Intersex flag: yellow and purple with a circle, chosen to sit outside the gender binary
🖤 Philadelphia Pride flag: adds black and brown stripes to centre people of colour in the movement
🤍 Straight Ally flag: for those who aren’t LGBTQI+ but stand with the community
Click here to see a list of flags.
What our people say
What would you want a younger version of yourself to know?
“I’d tell my younger self that being yourself is not something to apologise for. You don’t need to earn your place or change who you are to be loved. The journey won’t always be easy, but it will be worth it—and one day, you’ll look back and be proud of how far you’ve come.” — Javier Monton, Operations Support Manager, Sovereign Pension Services (Gibraltar)
What do you wish more people understood about what Pride actually means, beyond the flags and the parties?
“Pride is important because it helps people feel seen, understood, and less alone. For many individuals, coming to terms with their sexuality can be an incredibly challenging and frightening experience. As a result, some people suppress this part of their identity for years, preventing them from living authentically and fully.
At its core, Pride is about representation, visibility, and recognising the history and experiences of the LGBTQ+ community. Despite significant social progress, many LGBTQ+ individuals continue to face discrimination, prejudice, and harassment simply because of who they love. Sexual orientation is not a choice, and no one should be judged or marginalised because of it.
Pride provides hope and reassurance to those who may be struggling with their identity. It supports the thirteen-year-old girl sitting alone in her room, afraid to speak about how she feels and worried that there is something wrong with her. It also supports the thirty-two-year-old professional who fears being open with colleagues about who they are.
For many, Pride represents more than a celebration; it is a sense of belonging. It is a community that offers support, understanding, and acceptance to those who may have become disconnected from their families or support networks. Through Pride, many people find a new family, built on shared experiences, mutual respect, and solidarity.” — Anna Lowey, Director, Sovereign Trust (Isle of Man)
What does “being an ally” actually look like in practice, in your experience? What’s useful and what isn’t?
“Being an ‘ally’ depends on the context. More often than not, people say it when they need to appear to support non-discrimination in some form or other. However, in my experience, being an ally should be non-verbal – it should be how someone acts, how they treat other people; it should be natural. It’s also important that they show up (by waving that flag!) or step up (to challenge behaviours).
It’s some of the things I love about Sovereign – no-one needs to say they are an ally because people are kind, considerate, respectful and supportive of colleagues anyway; they don’t need to say they are allies, they prove that day in and day out just by being kind and non-judgmental. Staff (and here I include senior management) live the Group’s values and call out any intolerance or disrespect – and that makes it a safe place to work.” — Stephen Hare, Group Risk & Compliance Director, The Sovereign Group
Pride isn’t just a month. At Sovereign, it’s a reminder of something we’ve believed for a long time: that doing right by people, all people, is just part of the job.
Happy Pride.
Resources
🌈 ILGA World (website)
The leading international federation campaigning for LGBTQI+ human rights across 170+ countries. Their maps showing the legal landscape by country are particularly eye-opening for a firm like ours.
🌈 LGBT+ History Month UK (website)
Good for context, stories and educational resources beyond June.
🌈 Human Rights Campaign
The largest civil rights organisation in the US working to achieve LGBTQ+ equality; internationally recognised, excellent educational resources.
📞 Switchboard (support line)
The national LGBTQIA+ support line. Volunteers who all identify as LGBTQIA+ are available to discuss anything related to sexuality and gender identity, from sexual health to relationships to how someone is feeling.
🎙️ The Isis & Coco Show (podcast)
A popular podcast hosted by drag duo Isis Mirage and Coco Ferocha. They dive into drag culture, music, pop culture, and personal stories, such as trans visibility and the nuances of being performers.
👤 The Human Dignity Trust (organisation)
The only organisation working globally to support strategic litigation to eradicate laws that criminalise people on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
📖 Stonewall by Martin Duberman (book)
Renowned historian and activist Martin Duberman tells the full story of this pivotal moment in history. It follows six real people whose lives converged at the Stonewall Inn in 1969. Considered the definitive account of the riots that started the modern LGBTQI+ rights movement.
📖 The LGBTQ+ History Book (book)
Celebrates the victories and untold triumphs of LGBTQ+ people throughout history, from the Stonewall Riots and first gender affirmation surgeries, to moments of tragedy and persecution across the centuries.
🎥 10 films on LGBTQIA+ history (television)
Ten documentaries and television series for an opportunity to gain knowledge of LGBTQIA+ histories.
