Once again this year Touchstone staff celebrated all that is “Pink” about Leeds during Pride 2017.
Not only did staff march tall with our Pink Pals banner in the parade, we also had a stall in partnership with Leeds Mind and Community Links to raise awareness of mental health amongst the LGBT+ and non-LGBT communities in Leeds and beyond.
The day began for us at 9am but, with our mental health partners at our side, we were up at the crack of dawn and raring to go. Confident that we would be supporting people’s mental health not just today – but potentially into the future too.
We used the Kinsey scale as an engagement tool on the stall (a system developed in 1948 by Dr Alfred Kinsey to measure human sexuality and which determined whether a person was gay, straight, or something in between). This generated lots of discussion amongst people as to their own sexual orientation but also how their or someone else’s mental health might be affected by this.
What was best about the day from Touchstone’s perspective was the massive engagement from people from around the region – over 40,000 attended – and the family friendly atmosphere that was inclusive of all.
Thanks must go to all Touchstone staff who made our participation possible but also big thanks to our partners, Leeds Mind and Community Links.
See more photos and comments from the day…
