Marsh's Richard Cohen on leading a Pride group and valuing LGBTQ+ history

Richard Cohen, a key member of Marsh's Proposition and Innovation team in the UK, speaks to myGwork about his role developing comprehensive employee benefits for clients. With a background spanning the healthcare and benefits sector since 2009, Richard also dedicates his time as co-chair of Marsh's UK LGBTQ+ Colleague Resource Group, Marsh Pride, showcasing his commitment to community and inclusion.

Please introduce yourself and describe your role at your workplace.

Hi, I’m Richard Cohen, and I am part of Marsh’s Proposition and Innovation team in the UK. My role focusses on making sure we have a broad range of employee benefits for our consultants to take to clients to ensure they can support their employees better.

Think health and wellbeing solutions, insurances, discount providers, salary sacrifice type solutions. If your employer offers it as part of your overall package, we are involved. I joined Marsh in June 2024 but have been in the Healthcare/benefits sector since graduating from university in 2009. Additionally, I co-chair our UK LGBTQ+ Colleague Resource Group, Marsh Pride. I joined the group shortly after arriving at Marsh as it presented a great way to build my network. The role of co-chair became available soon after that and I saw it as an opportunity to get more involved in the strategic direction for the group. It was also an opportunity to give back to the LGBTQ+ community.

How would you define LGBTQ+ History Month, and why do you think it is important to have a designated month to highlight and celebrate LGBTQ+ history?

To me, LGBTQ+ History Month is a dedicated time to recognize, learn about, and celebrate the lives, struggles, achievements, and contributions of our community throughout history. It highlights moments, movements, and individuals who have shaped societies and our current experiences, often in the face of discrimination and societal challenges.

Having a designated month for LGBTQ+ history is important because much of this history has been ignored, hidden, or deliberately excluded from traditional historical narratives. When stories are not recorded, taught, or publicly acknowledged, they risk being forgotten—and in some cases, effectively erased. LGBTQ+ History Month creates intentional space to recover and share these untold stories, ensuring that past experiences are recognized as part of our shared human history rather than treated as footnotes or anomalies. Essentially giving them the space they deserve.

The month also helps challenge the idea that LGBTQ+ identities are new or modern phenomena. By highlighting historical evidence of LGBTQ+ people across cultures and time periods, it affirms that these identities have always existed. Additionally, it provides representation and validation for LGBTQ+ individuals today, while educating wider society, promoting empathy, and encouraging ongoing conversations about equality, rights, and inclusion. So much of our existence and the freedoms we enjoy today have been built on the backs of these histories, so it is important to understand where we are coming from.

Ultimately, LGBTQ+ History Month is not only about honoring the past—it is about preserving it. By remembering and teaching histories that were once silenced, we help prevent their erasure and ensure that future generations inherit a more complete, honest, and inclusive understanding of history.

Why is LGBTQ+ History Month important to you?

Put simply, it creates the space and time for us to reflect and acknowledge the journey our community is on, and in particular, what has come before us to ensure we have the current privileges we enjoy.

Who are LGBTQ+ people who you think will be remembered in LGBTQ+ history, and why?

I don’t think a single person or handful of people will define contemporary LGBTQ+ history. My view is that instead, our legacy will be written by everyday people and grassroots movements. This has the power to reshape public life and opinion. I believe that in an era of bitesize, viral moments, momentum is also built by networks of ordinary people coming together, witnessing, and documenting their lives. This is why stewardship of our own story is essential: we must actively record, preserve, and shape our own archive so that future generations see the fullness of our experience rather than risk erasure. Ultimately, the question “How will history remember us?” is one we should ask continually — because the future narrative depends on our commitment to sharing our truths in the light they deserve.

What message would you like to share with individuals as they engage with LGBTQ+ history month? How can people continue to honour and learn from LGBTQ+ history beyond this designated month?

Be inquisitive - ask questions. Educate yourselves on the journey we, as a community, have taken to get to where we are. In terms of keeping it alive beyond the month: Everyday conversations matter. Sharing stories, acknowledging LGBTQ+ role models, and speaking openly about LGBTQ+ history with families, friends and colleagues. By keeping LGBTQ+ history present in daily life, we ensure that it remains remembered, respected, and influential long after the designated month ends. by making LGBTQ+ history a consistent and visible part of everyday life rather than treating it as a once-a-year topic.