MSB Marched With Pride To Celebrate Our LGBTQ+ Community

Another Liverpool Pride done and dusted, and what a day it was.  

Liverpool Pride 2022 marked the 50th anniversary of the first Pride march in the UK, as well as the event’s grand return to the city after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  

The chosen theme for this year’s event was ‘Come Together’, to not only represent the LGBTQ+ community, but also marking the return of in-person events; and ‘come together’ we did! 

Before the pandemic hit, we had enjoyed celebrating Pride by participating in and hosting various events, including the Pride Connect event in collaboration with full-service brand and communications agency Agent, and DWF Law, so we were thrilled to be able to welcome the celebrations back in true MSB style. 

To mark Pride 2022, we once again partnered with friends from Agent and DWF, as well as Everton and Open Media for a day filled with celebration, liberation, and insightful conversation.  

We proudly marched through the city’s vibrant streets, waving our flag, and sporting our Pride T shirts designed by Everton, before gathering at the epicentre of the Pride Quarter to network and discuss solutions to tackle LGBTQ+ hate. 

The event was nothing short of a success; rainbows in every direction, the rooms awash with glitter and face paint, enthusiastic conversations about allyship…and food! The buzzing atmosphere and positively overwhelming sense of togetherness was a true testament to not only Liverpool’s historic diversity, but the brilliant culture that our organisations have worked hard to build. 

We’d like to say a special thank you to Ben Osu for organising the day’s events and hosting such a wonderful Pride celebration. His selfless commitment to delivering an inclusive world that celebrates all people is inspiring and we look forward to making next year’s celebrations even bigger and better.  

Throughout Pride month, our teams celebrated in various ways, from including the LGBTQ+ flag in our social presence, to instigating powerful conversation and leading on all-important initiates to directly support the community.  

At the start of the month, we announced our work with Mersey Care’s Cheshire and Merseyside Adult Gender Identity Collaborative (CMAGIC), to offer free advice and support for trans, nonbinary and intersex communities to help them through the process of changing their name. The free service will held be on the first Wednesday of every month, taking place at MSB offices in Liverpool, Widnes and Manchester.  

We were proud to partner with Open Media once again for their third #OpenAndProud campaign. The campaign features inspirational messages from members of the LGBTQ+ community displayed on Open Media digital screens across the city, to amplify the voices of the community, recognise how far we’ve come and raise awareness about the continual struggle for equality.  

As part of the month’s events, our Managing Partner Emma Carey explored what more can be done by law firms to support LGBTQ+ employees in a thought-provoking article with Lawyer Monthly; you can read the article here!  

We also welcomed the celebrations into our social clubs, as MSB’s book club offered their top Pride recommendations for the rest of the team. Check out their suggestions here. 

Pride is not simply a day or a month here at MSB. MSB is proud to stand shoulder to shoulder with LGBTQ+ communities all year round, and we will continue looking for ways to help our communities to become better, healthier and happier, in everything we do – whether it’s through our legal services, volunteering, or our pro bono activities.  

Emma Carey said: “Pride is an amazing celebration, and one we have enjoyed participating in for a number of years now, but it is also a symbol of the ongoing struggle the LGBTQ+ community faces and the importance of standing together as one. 

“It is so important for MSB Solicitors to support this community and events like Pride, which is just one of the many ways we celebrate diversity and inclusion at our firm. 

“I do not view equality and diversity as a business ‘policy’ – a set of rules we are obliged to follow, I see equality and inclusion as something that guides our principles and defines our values.” 

Take a look at some of the day’s highlights below: