The Importance of Allyship: Creating Spaces for Communities to Come Together

Sam Muturi, Inclusion Advisor at Clifford Chance tells us how by combining the efforts of your affinity groups, intersectional allyship can be achieved.

Often when we think about allyship, we think about collective efforts across communities to tackle discrimination, but allyship is also important to celebrate those within communities who are at the intersection of multiple identities and experiences. What does this celebration look like? At Clifford Chance we may have an answer to that question.

For a number of years now, our Arcus (LGBTQ+) and REACH (advancing race equality and celebrating heritage) affinity networks have come together to produce an event celebrating Black Pride & the visibility of LGBTQI+ People of Colour of African & Caribbean heritage. Notable highlights of this annual collaboration include:

'This is Radical Love' event in 2021 where Marc Thompson and Jason Okundaye – founders of the digital archive "Black and Gay, Back in the Day" on Instagram – joined us to discuss their work documenting the lives of Black queer people in Britain. Not just those seen as icons or famous figures but the stories of everyday people who contributed to the building of Black culture and frequented Black spaces.

'Carnival returns to Clifford Chance' in 2022 where we welcomed Virginia 'Gin' Wilson – founder of Faggamuffin, an organisation created with the mission to increase the visibility of QTIPOC Pride at carnival. Gin spoke about the specific experiences of LGBT+ Black and People of Colour in the UK in relation to Carnival and specifically London's Notting Hill Carnival, and the establishment of Faggamuffin as a space to grow community unity and cultural celebration.

This collaboration is important because it is this type of allyship that has been central in advancing LGBTQ+ equality. It is even more important in the context of Clifford Chance because one may not necessarily expect to see this type of collaboration and community building taking place within a multinational law firm. Through events like these, our REACH and Arcus affinity networks are able to come together to share the experiences of LGBTQI+ People of Colour, celebrating their stories and achievements whilst recognising that the inequalities faced by people of colour and LGBTQ+ individuals are different manifestations of very similar forms of societal and structural group-based discrimination. These events highlight shared experiences, cultivate empathy and understanding, and build connections between the different communities of each affinity network. 

Allyship between individuals is powerful but allyship between communities is transformative, expanding our range of thoughts and helping us to envision the possibilities of a better world for all our communities. It has been inspiring to see the way our REACH and Arcus affinity networks have come together to create a space for LGBTQI+ People of Colour within Clifford Chance that is uncommon in society. Even more so given there is some intolerance of LGBTQ+ communities within Carnival more generally.