Civil Service ‘Pride’
The Christian Institute has warned that Civil Service endorsement of LGBT Pride breaches rules on impartiality and is launching a legal challenge.
On 13 August 2025, we notified Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald of our intention to seek judicial review of Civil Service participation in Pride events.
We also called for an end to ‘rainbow’ lanyards, and ‘preferred pronouns’ in public-facing email signatures because we believe they also breach rules on impartiality.
In December 2025, lawyers for The Christian Institute lodged High Court papers commencing legal action against the PM, as Minister for the Civil Service, over this official, taxpayer-funded participation in Pride marches.
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The law is clear that civil servants must maintain impartiality on controversial political issues. Whether one agrees with it or not, no one can deny that the LGBTQ Pride movement and its hard-line gender ideology are profoundly political.
Pride London, for example, attended by Whitehall-based civil servants, has even banned political parties because they don’t support its political demands, which include puberty blockers and gender self-ID. Other Pride marches around the UK have taken a similar approach.
The association between Pride’s rainbow flag and controversial positions like these is so strong that many gay and lesbian people have rejected it. Similarly, declaring preferred pronouns to members of the public in official email signatures is a pointed display of allegiance to an ideology – one which the public increasingly rejects.
Simon Calvert, Deputy Director of The Christian Institute, said: “I have been working in public policy for decades. I’ve been shocked by how many civil servants wear Pride lanyards in our meetings with them, even when those meetings are specifically about the clashes between LGBTQ politics and the Christian faith.
“Sitting in front of a phalanx of civil servants in rainbow lanyards gives the impression that their minds are closed on the issues we are discussing. It certainly does not communicate the kind of neutrality that taxpayers expect of civil servants.”
To support this case and The Christian Institute’s other campaigns, please donate.