Pride Month 2023: Strength & Solidarity

Recognising LGBTQIA+ colleagues, attracting new ones and creating an inclusive environment for them to share their experiences is so important to us here at Raytheon UK, particularly as we welcome in Pride Month celebrations held annually in June across the globe. 

The history of LGBTQIA+ stems back to early civilisations and yet incredibly it’s only a short 20 years ago that employment equality legislation made it illegal to discriminate against lesbians, gay and bisexual people in the workplace. Before then, many in the LGBTQIA+ community could find themselves excluded from jobs and promotions, based solely on their sexual orientation or gender identity. 

At Raytheon UK, we take pride in our values of diversity and inclusion. We believe that diversity of thought, gender and culture help us to grow and innovate. Some of our best technologies have been created from an amalgamation of diverse ideas and therefore building an inclusive workplace will ensure we continue to provide ground-breaking innovations.

This year’s Pride Month theme of Strength and Solidarity resonates aptly with the ethos of our global employee resource group, called RTX Pride. The group supports our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual employees and allies to actively build a culture where every colleague can feel empowered to be their true selves without fear or judgement. 

We’re really very proud of the fantastic campaigning that RTX Pride continues to do in bringing attention to the core matters and lived experiences of its community to all employees across our organisation. Some examples of this have been advocating for education around pronouns, creating a trans inclusion policy for the safeguarding of trans colleagues, and participating in The Bank of London’s Rainbow Honours Awards – a prestigious ceremony that attracts international celebrities and recognises individuals, allies and organisations that are working tirelessly to influence change and promote LGBTQIA+ equality. Last year, we were delighted to sponsor the Lifetime Achievement Award – won by Rupert Whitaker and Martyn Butler of the UK’s leading HIV and sexual health charity, the Terrence Higgins Trust.

As Raytheon UK’s chief executive, my vision is to foster a supportive and inclusive work culture where every employee feels comfortable to turn up as their authentic selves, knowing that they’re both seen and heard. In doing so, we aim to remove barriers and to advocate in solidarity with the LGBTQIA+ community, both inside and outside our organisation. Raytheon UK is a proud partner of myGwork, an award-winning LGBTQIA+ professional network that offers its members a safe space where they can connect with inclusive employers, find jobs, mentors, professional events and news.

Our awareness of myGwork and subsequent partnership was driven by RTX Pride. It is to this employee resource group’s credit that Raytheon UK is opening new doors to hold itself accountable for LGBTQIA+ visibility and equality, within our organisation and across the wider defence and intelligence industry. We continue to work with myGwork to help us to build a truly diverse and inclusive workforce and culture.

Ultimately, it’s about actively committing to changing our organisational culture and to making a lasting difference. By doing so we hope to lead change in our sector.  

Together we are stronger.