Allies in Action: Beyond the Basics - panel recap

myGwork's most recent panel Allies in Action: Beyond the Basics brought together voices from across industries to explore what meaningful LGBTQ+ allyship looks like in practice. Rather than focusing on slogans or one‑month‑a‑year visibility, the discussion centred on everyday behaviour, structural change and the ripple effect that genuine support can have on individuals and organisations alike.

Opening the myGwork panel, host Rowena Wilding (Wilding Marketing) framed the conversation around action rather than optics, reminding attendees that inclusive cultures hinge on everyday choices. As she put it,

“Allyship is more than a statement of support. It is the actions that people choose every day that help create workplaces where everyone can thrive.”

Tanisha Gupta (Novartis) challenged “checklist” and performative approaches to Pride, stressing that wearing rainbows while laughing at homophobic or transphobic jokes is the opposite of allyship. For her, effective support is about genuine intent, consistency and basic care for people’s safety and dignity.

“I think there's a very subtle difference between an effective ally and somebody who's pretending to be an ally.”

Louisa (BAE Systems) shared a practical framework of allyship as a journey: from self‑aware allies working on their biases, to developing allies who join events, to visible allies who signal safety, through to supportive allies who speak up and challenge poor behaviour. She underlined that visible gestures like lanyards and pins can be profoundly reassuring for new starters walking into a workplace.

“We often go, how can we get our allies to engage more than just kind of wearing a rainbow lanyard, wearing rainbow laces? But actually, these people are some of the most effective allies that we can get.”

As Talent Acquisition Manager at Virgin Media O2, Stuart Coates highlighted the power of allies in positions that shape hiring, promotion and culture. He described his own journey of self‑education and how he uses his role to tackle unconscious bias and push for fairer processes, insisting that candidates be seen for their abilities, not their identities.

“We shouldn't be looking at color, we shouldn't be looking at race, we shouldn't be looking at religion. We should purely be looking at this person as an individual, and the skills and the experience they bring.”

From a brand and customer perspective, Molly Mackins (Superdrug) spoke about long‑term, values‑driven partnership with LGBTQIA+ helpline Switchboard and the importance of standing firm in the face of complaints. She connected public corporate commitments with private conversations at home, arguing that silence in either context validates prejudice.

“If you don't speak out in those scenarios, you're okaying the behaviour, and you're okaying the lack of representation or space that somebody needs or a community should have.”

Lee Israel (Colt Technology Services) focused on systemic allyship and intersectionality, stressing that support must extend across women’s networks, faith groups, neurodivergent colleagues and more. For him, allyship is defined not by what people call themselves, but by what others experience from them day to day.

“I've always personally believed that allyship isn't so much an identity you can claim, but for me, it's part and parcel of how I operate.”

Finally, Ben Grout (Moody’s) emphasized that meaningful, organization‑wide change cannot rest solely on LGBTQ+ employees or on policy documents. Allies, he argued, are essential in building an allyship culture, normalizing inclusive language and using processes like recruitment and talent programmes to embed equity.

“I feel, actually, it's more than just help, it's really essential, because for systemic change to be driven entirely by members of the community, or for us just to be reliant on fundamental HR policies would be very limiting.”

Taken together, the panelists painted a clear picture of allyship as an ongoing, shared responsibility: a mix of quiet, visible signals; difficult conversations at home and at work; and deliberate use of influence to change systems, not just stories. Their message to allies for the year ahead was simple but demanding: stay curious, be kind, use your privilege, and let your actions speak loudly enough that others would confidently call you an ally.

Click here to watch the full panel Allies in Action: Beyond the Basics.

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