Participation in pride events
Be it resolved that this AGM deplores participation by the National Trust in gay pride parades as divisive and an unaccountable waste of members’ subscriptions.
The National Trust took part in the Birmingham Gay Pride event in 2019. In a letter to the proposer, the Director-General admitted no account was kept of the expenditure nor of any resulting subscription revenue.
The participation was unaccountable, divisive and an exercise in virtue signalling. It was unbecoming in a body which should be dedicated to preserving the nation’s heritage for all and being a faithful steward of its members’ subscriptions.
Our founders created the National Trust to promote the preservation of places of historic interest and natural beauty for the benefit of the nation.
That means the National Trust is for everyone and welcomes all visitors, staff and volunteers. Like many employers we want to foster a culture of understanding and respect.
Pride promotes and celebrates LGBTQ+ rights across the globe. The Trust has been supporting participation in Pride for many years. This includes enabling staff and volunteers to take part in celebrations, running virtual events and sharing information.
We support Pride alongside many other events each year including Black History Month, Mental Health Awareness Week and others. The National Trust’s role is to protect and promote everyone’s heritage, of which LGBTQ+ history is an important part.
We do not believe that taking part in any of the cultural celebrations we support is divisive, in fact we see these events as an opportunity to bring people together.
This resolution runs counter to our ethos.
We recommend members vote against the resolution.
See next page for context >>
From the Daily Telegraph to the NHS, from Waitrose to the National Grid, employers around the UK participate in Pride celebrations. At the National Trust we enable staff and volunteers to take part in celebrations, including parades.
For any event, our costs are proportionate and value for money. Expenses for staff involvement in any activity are counted in local budgets. We can always account for the money we spend, and we publish full statements of all our accounts.
The letter from our Director-General that is referred to did not ‘admit that no account was kept of the expenditure’. It said that there is no separate budget held for Pride.
All National Trust activities, from building conservation to events and celebrations, are funded by a mix of trading income, donations, grants, corporate sponsorship and interest earned on investments. We respond to reasonable requests for information and are sometimes prepared to devote time and resource to extra calculations when we believe there is merit in doing so.
We do not believe there is merit in singling out travel or incidental expenses for Pride celebrations from other local expenses. In fact, this would be divisive when our local budgets cover cultural celebrations of other kinds. We strongly reject the notion that this makes us unaccountable.
We strongly reject the statement that participation is divisive. The National Trust is for everyone.
Voting information