Fighting With Pride was founded in 2020 to support LGBT+ veterans, serving personnel and their families, particularly those who were affected by the Armed Forces ‘gay ban’. Before January 2000, thousands of LGBT+ service personnel were removed or forced from service and abandoned. The charity aims to restore the military covenant and bring this community back into the military family.

For 2021’s Remembrance Sunday, Fighting With Pride was invited to march at the National Service of Remembrance. It was the first time LGBT+ veterans have been officially and openly invited to the event at the Cenotaph.

We provided communications and social media support ahead of the Remembrance Sunday service. The media relations work focused on the announcement and brought to life the stories of veterans who were discharged from the Armed Forces due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Overall, the campaign achieved 337 pieces of coverage with an opportunity to see of 61,106,194. Joint Chief Executive Caroline Paige featured as part of the official BBC coverage and was interviewed by BBC Radio 5Live on the day and fellow JCE Craig Jones MBE was interviewed on ITV Lunchtime News. News and comment pieces, images, quotes, and features appeared in numerous national titles including the Mail Online, i, the Times, Metro, and the Daily Mirror.

The social media campaign focused on the day’s events and amplified the media coverage. We posted photos taken from the day, focusing on the veterans marching and generated a positive debate. We engaged with numerous stakeholders including Minister for Equalities, Mike Freer MP, SSAFA and Dan Carden MP. Twitter followers over the weekend increased by over a third.