LGBTQ+ History Month is not just about celebration. It is about struggle.

The rights we have today did not appear because society naturally became more tolerant. They were fought for in workplaces, on picket lines, in communities and in Parliament. From the Sexual Offences Act 1967, to the Civil Partnership Act 2004, to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 progress came because people organised and refused to accept injustice.

But let’s be clear: rights can be rolled back.

We are living in a time when culture wars are being weaponised, when trans people in particular are being used as political footballs, and when “equality” is too often treated as optional. Insecure work, zero-hours contracts, hostile management practices and weak enforcement hit LGBTQ+ workers hard especially young workers and those facing multiple forms of discrimination.

As food workers, those in the allied trades and our SWU and SALT branches, many of our members work in fragmented workplaces franchises, distribution hubs, factories, shops where power imbalances are real and isolation can be acute. That is why the union matters.

An organising union does not simply “celebrate diversity.”

We build power to defend it.

LGBTQ+ liberation has always been linked to wider struggles against poverty, against racism, against misogyny, against exploitation. Pride began as protest. And protest still matters.

This LGBTQ+ History Month, BFAWU is clear:

• We will challenge discrimination wherever we see it.
• We will defend trans members unequivocally.
• We will push employers for meaningful equality policies not rainbow logos once a year.
• We will organise collectively to ensure safety, dignity and respect at work.

Solidarity is not selective.

When one group of workers is attacked, the labour and trade union movement must respond as one.

Because equality at work isn’t a PR exercise.

It’s a power question.

And power comes from organising.

Sarah Woolley
General Secretary, BFAWU