Marching Out Together
Nominee Profile
Location: Leeds
Marching Out Together is the official LGBTQ+ fans’ group of Leeds United FC, founded in 2017 to help LGBTQ+ fans feel more connected to the club they love and feel safer being themselves when attending Elland Road.
The changes we’ve seen since that start six years ago has been beyond what we could possibly have imagined - Marching Out Together merch sold in the club shop; a Leeds player becoming the first ever active Premier League player to attend an LGBTQ+ Pride parade when Luke Ayling marched with us at Leeds Pride; commissioning a proud peacock mural; and just in March attending the Football v Homophobia annual awards with the club’s EDI team to celebrate Leeds United winning the award in the Professional Game category.
In our day to day work, we host regular pre-match meet-ups, hold competitions, and proactively seek to educate and raise awareness and understanding on LGBTQ+ issues, and lend our support to established mainstream campaigns, such as “Kick it Out”, “Rainbow Laces”, “Pride in Football”, “Football v Homophobia”, among others.
We work closely with Leeds United FC to improve education, diversity, and inclusivity within our club and its fanbase, as well as working to challenge and remove homophobia from football. The club has been probably our biggest advocate, and their work includes sponsoring Leeds Pride, putting on courses in schools, active and public support for Rainbow Laces and Football v Homophobia, and donating signed merchandise to help us fund our work.
One of our nominees from the NDA awards in 2022 really sums up what we set out to achieve, “This group has improved the match day experience and had helped me as a 55 year old gay man to feel more comfortable at the group and given me the courage to wear my Leeds United and Pride scarf at games to show we are not hiding, we will not be pushed aside and we will not be afraid to be who we are and support our team. Thank you so much for the work you have done and will continue to do!”
The changes we’ve seen since that start six years ago has been beyond what we could possibly have imagined - Marching Out Together merch sold in the club shop; a Leeds player becoming the first ever active Premier League player to attend an LGBTQ+ Pride parade when Luke Ayling marched with us at Leeds Pride; commissioning a proud peacock mural; and just in March attending the Football v Homophobia annual awards with the club’s EDI team to celebrate Leeds United winning the award in the Professional Game category.
In our day to day work, we host regular pre-match meet-ups, hold competitions, and proactively seek to educate and raise awareness and understanding on LGBTQ+ issues, and lend our support to established mainstream campaigns, such as “Kick it Out”, “Rainbow Laces”, “Pride in Football”, “Football v Homophobia”, among others.
We work closely with Leeds United FC to improve education, diversity, and inclusivity within our club and its fanbase, as well as working to challenge and remove homophobia from football. The club has been probably our biggest advocate, and their work includes sponsoring Leeds Pride, putting on courses in schools, active and public support for Rainbow Laces and Football v Homophobia, and donating signed merchandise to help us fund our work.
One of our nominees from the NDA awards in 2022 really sums up what we set out to achieve, “This group has improved the match day experience and had helped me as a 55 year old gay man to feel more comfortable at the group and given me the courage to wear my Leeds United and Pride scarf at games to show we are not hiding, we will not be pushed aside and we will not be afraid to be who we are and support our team. Thank you so much for the work you have done and will continue to do!”