Life

Wickes praised for influential message on Brighton Pride float

By Kira Richards

8th August 2022

Wickes joined the Brighton Pride festivities over the weekend with a powerful message on its float.

The DIY shop featured two large posters, which both had bold messaging.

One poster said ‘No LGB without the T. We stand by our trans siblings now and forever.’

The other poster featured ‘Ban Conversion Therapy for ALL’ on a Pride flag background.

The float also featured renamed paint colours, including ‘Quirky Queer’, ‘Electric Enby’, ‘Gloriously Gay’ and ‘Pefectly Pan’.

Many took to Twitter to praise the retailer’s statement.

It’s said to be bolder than other brands’ support of the LGBTQ+ community.

https://twitter.com/sheepchase/status/1556164851952926720?s=20&t=tnOOmNBgtNxjp1TDnKX1lQ

One user tweeted: “Good on Wickes. It’s LGBT, not LGB. Trans people are valid and don’t deserve the targeted abuse and harassment they receive.”

Another commented: “This was the strongest messaging from a company at Brighton Pride, among a dozen other floats with people dancing to Lady Gaga with rainbow flags. They also represented a lot of identities if you can see the flags—bi, pan, asexual, and non-binary. I thought it was excellent.”

Brighton Pride returned for the first time in three years due to covid.

The celebrations were cancelled two years in a row before it made a comeback last weekend.

Wickes shared an image of the float to its Twitter captioned: “Proud to take part in Brighton Pride this weekend to celebrate their 30th year, and even prouder of our LGBTQ+ Network who work hard every day to make sure everyone can feel at home at Wickes.”

The hardware store has been in support of the LGBTQ+ community for some years.

It started making floats for Pride in 2014 and has run Let’s Do It With Pride, a network for its colleagues.

The company is also a Stonewall diversity champion and has allyship programmes.