Come out in support
Royal Mail is joining several other companies in competing in a ‘Rainbow Laces’ 5-a-side football tournament in Sheffield on Saturday 16 February.
Sheffield Hallam University and local LGBT+ charity, SAYiT are organising the games to help stamp out LGBT+ phobia in sport.
Created by LGBT+ charity Stonewall, the Rainbow Laces campaign is a way for everyone involved in sport to show their support for LGBT+ equality and inclusivity by wearing rainbow coloured shoelaces.
National teams, leading clubs - including Manchester United and Arsenal - top athletes, fans and grassroots players are lacing up to come out for LGBT+ people in sport. Click here to find out more.
LGBT+ & Friends steering group secretary, Leon Evans, said: ‘The reason behind the tournament is to help raise awareness for inclusion in football as well as awareness for SAYiT, which will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2019.
‘SAYiT has been influential in transforming the lives of young LGBT+ people. The money made will be supporting the charity as well as the Noah Lomax Fund, in memory of a young LGBT+ person who recently passed away.
‘At present we have two teams taking part, the Royal Mail Rovers, and Royal Maildrid. Each team, in exchange for a set donation, gets rainbow laces, one of our highly-sought-after Royal Mail Pride t-shirts, and as if that wasn’t enough, a pizza buffet after the event! There’s also a raffle, so please come along and show your support if you can! Spectators are more than welcome.’
Why Rainbow Laces matters
Lesbian, gay, bi and trans people can have negative perceptions and experiences of sport, whether it’s due to bullying in school sport, coming across anti-LGBT language on social media, down the pub or during live sports.
New Stonewall research finds that most people want to see action against anti-LGBT language in sport, but only a quarter feel confident calling it out. Rainbow Laces is all about giving people the confidence and the tools to be active allies to LGBT people in sport.
If you fancy taking part in the Rainbow Laces football tournament, which will take place from 1-5pm at Goals Sheffield, 95 Norfolk Park Road, S2 2RU, please email hannah.parys@royalmail.com for more information. If you can’t make it but you would like to donate, you can do so via SAYiT’s fundraising page.
Get involved
[]
The LGBT+ & Friends steering group was established in 2015 with the goal of creating an accessible network for LGBT+ colleagues and supporters to come together and share their experiences.
The group aims to help colleagues be themselves at work and establish Royal Mail as a true champion of LGBT+ colleagues and the wider LGBT+ community.
If you would like to set up a local network or get involved in the steering group, you can email them at LGBT&Friends@royalmail.com, and let them know what you would like to do.
You can also subscribe to their newsletter and join their protected Facebook group, just email them with your pay number and the email address you use to sign into Facebook and they will send you an invite.
