Craig McNally interviewed by Ashlynn Hudson-Welburn (session 2 of 2)

Interview with Craig McNally conducted by Ashlynn Hudson-Welburn, session 2 of 2, on 19th September 2024 at the National Railway Museum. Duration: 2 hours 06 minutes 51 seconds. [Start of session 2, track 01] McNally discusses gaming, fantasy and X-Men as escapism from difficult school experiences and as stories about difference, prejudice, passing, fear and minority groups being blamed collectively, linking these themes to LGBTQIA+ experience and noting later non-binary representation in X-Men 97. [00:19:30] He recalls early internet use, including AOL [America Online], Freeserve, EverQuest, MMORPGs [massive multiplayer online role-play games], Microsoft chatrooms and ASL [Age, Sex, Location]. Entering gay chatrooms felt frightening and shameful, but gave him his first conversations with other LGBTQIA+ people and a route into community. [00:30:00] He describes first dates from chatrooms, gay bars in Newcastle’s Pink Triangle, feeling unable to hold hands with a man in public, and the value of gay bars as more protective social spaces. He also discusses dating a rail colleague while both were closeted and the burden of coming out in workplaces where heterosexuality was assumed. [00:40:00] He reflects on inclusion lanyards, Pride symbols and visible workplace signals that LGBTQIA+ people are welcome, explaining the emotional pressure of hiding relationships, remembering lies and living a double life while working. [00:50:00] McNally describes bringing work friends and LGBTQIA+ friends together, and changing family attitudes, including his mother becoming a strong ally after knowing him as a gay person and recognising discrimination faced by same-gender couples.[00:58:36] [Session 2, Track 3, 00:00:00] He outlines railway career progression through GNER [Great North Eastern Railway], National Express, East Coast, Virgin Trains and LNER, contrasting company cultures, morale and Virgin’s stronger emphasis on bringing your full self to work. [00:05:10] In Virgin’s Community Team he helped organise York Pride, formed a Pride Committee, worked with organisers and sponsorship, and saw Pride become emotionally significant for colleagues who had not previously had anyone to attend with. [00:15:00] He discusses LNER staff networks, including the LGBTQIA+ network and Being You, Together Tuesday wellbeing check-ins, executive sponsorship, and a gender identity toolkit for colleagues and managers created with lived experience and shared externally. [00:25:00] His EDI [Equality/Equity, Diversity and Inclusion] work includes colleague-led networks, safe spaces, lived experience, allyship, inclusion lanyards, train messaging and LNER’s Pride livery. [00:30:00] He describes the Together train, Pride flag designs, educational carriage artwork, FOI [Freedom of Information] requests and LNER’s decision to visibly support LGBTQIA+ inclusion. Mental health support campaign, You belong train, partnership with CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably, suicide prevention charity). [00:40:00] He links this visibility to support for LGBTQIA+ young people and transgender colleagues, active allyship, senior leader engagement and employer responsibility for inclusion. [00:55:00] In his current role as Employee Experience Business Partner and EDI lead, he works with colleague networks, allyship training, employee survey data, inclusion index work and EDI KPI [key performance indicators], arguing that retention, lived experience and supportive culture matter as much as diversity measures. He ends by saying rail changed his life and helped him come out and be himself. [end of session 2, end of interview]

This interview was made as part of People Pride and Progress (PPP) project. The project was initiated in 2023 to record the stories and memories of the LGBTQIA+ community in a new oral history archive over two years. It aimed to connect past, present and future through intergenerational interviews, offering opportunities for colleagues across all parts of the rail industry to connect, reflect on and learn from each other’s lived experiences while creating an archive of oral history interviews.