Press Release
Thursday 18 March 2021
PRIDE IN LONDON’S COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARD RESIGNS
Pride in London’s Community Advisory Board (CAB), has today announced its resignation from the organisation, citing a repeated culture of bullying, gaslighting and marginalisation especially against Black and people of colour (POC) volunteers.
CAB was set up in 2012 by Pride in London as an advisory and scrutiny body, made up of members of London’s LGBT+ community. Its core objective is to help Pride in London meet its commitment to openness and transparency, whilst also advising on different issues to help Pride continue to be as inclusive and accountable as possible.
Advice in reports and across meetings dating back to 2018, clearly document CAB’s key concerns and repeated recommendations to make urgent changes in the following areas:
- Address the hostile environment at Pride in London, especially towards Black and POC volunteers.
- Address allegations that senior volunteers have contributed to a toxic culture which erases and marginalises Black and POC voices.
- Address ongoing issues around the current complaints procedure. The CAB continually raised concerns around the fact there is no clear timeline or policy on how complaints are dealt with, together with no guaranteed commitment to impartial or independent review or process for appeals.
- Address the issue of police marching in the parade. Following the murder of George Floyd on 25 May 2020, the community led a campaign to remove the police as a marching group from Pride in London. However, despite repeated requests, Pride in London has failed to centre black and POC voices in its recent decision to allow police to continue to march in the parade, despite their public commitments.
Ozzy Amir, Chair of the Community Advisory Board said: “There is a hostile environment at Pride in London which particularly impacts Black and POC volunteers. Pride in London has failed to safeguard volunteers, or even put in place a formal complaint’s procedure, despite years of recommendations by the CAB to do so. It is clear to us from the appalling accounts we have heard first hand from volunteers who have stepped down, and from those who have bravely gone on the record in the media, that Pride in London has failed in their duty to create an inclusive environment.
He continues: “Recent actions taken by Pride in London confirm to us their failure to properly engage and listen to historically marginalised voices. Key decisions, such as the one involving police marching in the parade, do not align with their publicly stated values. Their repeated failure to take on board community advice has seriously undermined trust in the advisory process. We cannot be party to this any longer and have no choice but to make the difficult decision to resign. This is a pattern that keeps repeating and we no longer have confidence that the current leadership of the organisation is fit to take it into the future.”
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Media Information: Please contact Andrea Rogers.
E:andrea@gollypr.com. T: 07881 557 684.
Note to Editors
About The Community Advisory Board (CAB)
CAB was set up by Pride in London as an advisory and scrutiny body, made up of members of London’s LGBT+ community. It’s objective is to help Pride in London meet its commitment to openness and transparency and advise on different issues to help Pride continue to be as inclusive and accountable as possible.
As representatives of London’s diverse LGBT+ community, CAB works together with Pride in London directors to help make Pride as inclusive as possible. It offers advice and scrutiny on sponsorships and finance, on complaints and issues within the community, and provides guidance on policies and procedures. As an advisory board it has no decision-making powers. It only advises, scrutinises and makes recommendations in the interests of the wider LGBT+ community.