Entire Pride in London advisory board quits over bullying claims
All 10 members of Pride in London’s community advisory board (CAB) have resigned, citing a “hostile environment” for volunteers of colour.
In an open letter published today, the board members pointed to a culture of “bullying, gaslighting and marginalisation” at the organisation and said they had “no other option” but to step down.
They called for new leadership and for City Hall to launch an independent investigation into the bullying allegations.
Pride in London said it was carrying out a full review of “processes at board level”. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said he was taking the allegations “extremely seriously”.
The CAB, which was established in 2012, advises directors on questions of inclusivity and helps the body meet its commitments to openness and transparency.
The mass resignation comes after a string of directors quit Pride in London, citing a hostile environment and a failure to deal with complaints on racism and bullying.
“The CAB has heard first-hand from some of those who have resigned and come forward to share their experiences with us. Their accounts cite dysfunctional working environments that are marked by bullying and appalling behaviour from senior individuals, who have acted with impunity,” the board members wrote.
“Some of these allegations directly implicate members of the Pride in London board as contributing to this hostile environment and raise troubling allegations about your failure to respond to complaints on racism and bullying.”
The board members added they had previously raised concerns about the lack of a formal complaints process, but said the directors had failed to act.
A spokesperson for Pride in London said: “We take concerns around bullying very seriously and have a number of processes in place for our volunteers to be able to lodge formal complaints, including anonymously, which are then followed up on and investigated.
“We acknowledge that we need to rebuild trust with Black communities and people of colour, and to that end we are conducting a full review of our processes and procedures at board level in order to bring about tangible and meaningful change. We will share more on these decisions within the next week.”
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The Mayor is committed to tackling racism and inequality in all its forms, and takes any allegations of this nature extremely seriously.
“Officials at City Hall are urgently speaking with Pride about these concerning allegations.”