Equality and Diversity blog

You can find the photos from Pride Bristol here.

“LGBT people across the South West thank you, your support has made a different to thousands of people’s lives”.
Dr Anna Rutherford, Director of Pride Bristol commnenting on UWE’s support for Pride

Over 20,000 people took part in Bristol’s Pride festival at Castle Park on 21 August 2010. As one of the main sponsors of the Pride, UWE joined the colourful and vibrant celebration of diversity and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in the South West. Our UWE stall was decorated with a rainbow arch made by ballons which our LGBT students from OUT UWE society created. The stall was visited by people from all walks of life, including current staff and students,  those who are interested in working with us at UWE and also prospective students who wanted to know whether the University is ‘a place that accepts everyone’ if they come to study.

Professor Ron Ritchie, Assistant Vice-Chancellor and Diversity Champion for UWE, said: “I was pleased to see the active involvement of so many staff and students at Pride in Bristol. I was impressed by the interest being shown by so many visitors in the materials provided at the stall and the enthusiasm with which colleagues looking after the UWE stall were engaging with those visitors. I regard UWE’s sponsorship of Pride as one of the important ways in which we demonstrate our commitment to diversity and promote UWE as an inclusive, accessible and welcoming learning community”. Ron also added that “UWE looks forward to involvement in future Pride events!”

Director of Pride Bristol, Dr Anna Rutherford said: “Pride festivals are hugely beneficial to society in improving social cohesion and understanding of diversity, and creating a sense of community. Pride events also provide vulnerable young LGBT people with role models and confidence, factors which are extremely important during their development. We are extremely grateful to UWE for their sponsorship, and for the support given by their staff and students. We were extremely proud to work with such a well-reputed and forward-thinking institution as UWE on Pride Bristol 2010, and look forward to building upon this year’s success into the future”.

UWE is committed to equality and diversity for all our students, staff and visitors. We have an active LGBT Equality Action Plan and we have been working with Stonewall (LGB equality charity) to help the University develop and become a truly inclusive organisation for everyone. Our sponsorship of the Bristol Pride event is just one example of our commitment and support to LGBT communities on campus and in Bristol. We have a number of different network for staff and students including ones for LGBT students and staff: OUT UWE (LGBTx student society, outuwe@live.co.uk) and LGBT Staff Network (lgbt@uwe.ac.uk). If you want to find out more about any issues regarding equality and diversity, or specifically LGBT issues, please contact: equalityanddiversityunit@uwe.ac.uk / 0117 3281719.