#ProudToBeMegan

Pride is a key event in our Summer of Happiness which is focused on encouraging and supporting each and every one of us to be the best version of ourselves. Creating an inclusive workplace where we all feel confident in bringing our whole selves to work is key to this.

During Pride week, colleagues are sharing why they are #SupportingWithPride and #ProudToBeMe. I want to share my #ProudToBeMe story with you…

I remember ‘coming out’ 35 years ago, before the time coming out itself was…well a ‘thing’. I knew it would be okay, and it was, for me.

In the 1980s women’s bars weren’t visible; a couple of knocks on an anonymous door and a quick glance from the person inside would get you in. I looked the part, though underage for drinking, but they didn’t care. If you’d managed to find the place that was enough – you must have known someone.

Since then, I’ve always been out  – at uni, with friends, at work … comfortable in my skin. I’ve ridden with Dykes on Bikes; line danced and marched in Sydney Mardi Gras, San Francisco, London and Brighton Prides; organised the first ever Coming Out Week at Sacramento University; and brought biscuits and cakes to work to celebrate my wedding when the law finally allowed me to get married. (Just for the record it was only March 2014 – and if you live in Northern Ireland, you’re still waiting).

Despite my largely positive experience, the feeling that you still don’t quite fit in is unavoidable. For example, the work ‘black tie event’. There’s a dress code expectation for women and men at those events, so do you frock up and look like a drag queen or go in a tux and look like a drag king? Either way, it feels like one of the subtle ways society is unintentionally telling you you’re not, well, straight.

But it feels different at Carnival UK. I’m new here, and in my first few weeks I round the corner to the office and spot the steps. The ‘big gay steps’ I call them! I mean, I know they’re really everyone’s (and they should be!) but to me, they’re the big gay steps.

I love them. They say to me the simple statement, you belong.

Look out in Carnival House for other colleagues who are #SupportingWithPride and #ProudToBeMe