Pride Month is an opportunity to celebrate the diverse and vibrant LGBTQ+ community, but it’s also an opportunity to reflect on how we can all play a role in fostering LGBTQ+ inclusion and stand united against all forms of discrimination. Across the month, Aston Martin F1 Team is educating and building awareness among its people, partners and fans on the importance of allyship in motorsport and the LGBTQ+ community.
Being an ally is about more than showing LGBTQ+ support around Pride Month or adding a rainbow to a logo. An ally is someone, however they choose to identify, who supports and advocates for equal rights and fair treatment of the LGBTQ+ community. Their voice can amplify that of LGBTQ+ people and help others understand the importance of equality, fairness, acceptance and mutual respect. For businesses, allyship is a continuous process of improvement. Adopting positive and inclusive policies, embracing allyship and supporting LGBTQ+ colleagues make the workplace a safer and more welcoming space. But businesses also benefit through the attraction and retention of diverse talent, creation of a positive and productive culture, better employee welfare and more LGBTQ+ role models and allies in positions of leadership.
At AMF1, we’re committed to ensuring that equality, diversity and inclusion is embedded in our culture. Throughout June, we’re celebrating strong allies and providing unconscious bias and allyship training to all our people to support our colleagues to be their authentic selves. The sessions, led by our partner Racing Pride, will focus on being an inclusive colleague and build on the work we have done with the charity over the past year, which has accelerated our continuous development of inclusivity policies to promote a culture in which all team members are respected, empowered and valued.
Last year’s Pride Month saw us feature Racing Pride logos on the bodywork our 2021 challenger, the AMR21, at the French Grand Prix. Although there will be no rainbow branding on the AMR22, our focus this year is on shining a light on allyship – those who raise their hand and show support for the LGBTQ+ community – with content and meaningful storytelling around real people and real lives. After the success of the AMF1 International Women’s Day Event in March, which celebrated the achievements of women in motorsport and shone a light on the principle of a gender-equal world, free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination, across Pride Month we’re raising awareness of allyship with a series of ‘In conversation’ events.
