Go North East outlines its commitment to continue supporting the LGBTQ+ community

As LGBT+ History Month draws to a close, Go North East has outlined its commitment to continue supporting the LGBTQ+ community.

The region’s largest bus company has been a long-term supporter of Pride events and local LGBTQ+ organisations, and introduced its first fully branded Pride bus back in 2015.

Since then, Go North East has introduced more Pride-branded buses to its fleet, not only to visit Pride celebrations in the region with, but to show the company’s support for the LGBTQ+ community year-round; Go North East’s Pride branded buses can often be seen serving customers in many communities across the North East.

Go North East will once again support Pride events this year, with events taking place in Durham, Newcastle and Sunderland. To show its ongoing commitment Go North East plans to rebrand a bus using the Progress Flag to attend Sunderland Pride and serve communities in and around Sunderland too.

The Progress Flag is a development of the well-known Rainbow Flag – a symbol of the LGBTQ+ community – and incorporates light blue, pink and white to represent the trans, non-binary and intersex communities, and black and brown to show support for marginalised LGBTQ+ communities of colour.

Alongside support for the LGBTQ+ communities that it serves, Go North East will continue to support its LGBTQ+ colleagues too. The company’s One Team GNE initiative – launched in 2020 – involves colleague champions from across the company who have come together to look at ways that the company can be more inclusive, diverse, and better represent the communities it serves.

Through One Team GNE, Go North East recently supported the Mr Gay England and Mx Drag England finals at Alnwick Garden, helping transport the finalists on its very own rainbow bus, and teamed up with Pride Radio in 2021 to support its series of audio documentaries for Pride Month.

Martijn Gilbert, managing director at Go North East, said: “At Go North East, we want to celebrate everyday inclusion in all its forms, working together to make sure everyone feels valued and respected.

“Over the past decade, Go North East has shown its commitment to its LGBTQ+ colleagues and to our local LGBTQ+ communities, and has taken this further over the past two years as part of our One Team GNE initiative.

“I’m proud to be able to say we will continue this important work, through raising awareness across our colleagues and customers about these important matters, continuing to make our company a diverse and inclusive workplace and carrying on supporting the LGBTQ+ community across the North East and beyond.”