Seven years ago, I started my professional journey.
I got my first proper job working in an office. Seven years ago, I was Lacey Freshwater She/Her, certified Barista and Furniture Builder and a generally shy person. Two and a half years ago, I joined the rail industry as Lacey Freshwater They/Them, Finance and Projects Analyst and a much more confident person.
In those four and a half years I’d met my partner, realised I was non-binary, been diagnosed with Autism and had developed a whole new personality. In just four and a half years, my whole world had changed. So, when I had outgrown my last job, I started the hunt for a new career.
As a queer, non-binary person, I’ve had to deal with my fair share of verbal abuse. “Your gender isn’t real, you’re messed up” “You’re just mentally ill” “It’s not right to be gay, you’re disgusting”. Whenever I decide on where I’m going to spend my time or who I’m going to spend it with, one of my big questions is “Is it safe?”. Looking for a job was hard, what if my new company isn’t LGBT+ friendly, what if everybody refuses to use They/Them pronouns for me, or even worse, what if I have to deal with physical or verbal abuse at work?
The thought of spending the next however many years dealing with prejudice and hate was a scary thought and one that our community must deal with all too often. All I wanted was to turn up to work, have good connections in my team, excel at my job and be unapologetically myself. Having worked in hostile environments before it played a big part in my search for a new industry.
So, when I got my job at Network Rail, back in 2023, I was reassured to see them on the Stonewall Inclusive Employer list. I could come to work, as me, and I wouldn’t have to worry. Not long after joining, I was approached by a colleague who worked not far from my desk, and they invited me to join Archway.
I’d never been involved with a LGBT+ Network before so at the time I had no idea what it was or what it did. Discovering Archway was a game changer for me. Archway is Network Rail and the wider rail industry’s LGBT+ employee network, connecting, educating, and empowering members of the community and its allies. When I joined the Archway Leadership Team, I originally joined as one of the Prides co-leads. This meant that we would help to organise Network Rails attendance at Pride events throughout the year. Pride events are so special to me because it’s a place where I can relax and be around like-minded people (Similar to the way I feel about being a member of Archway!).
After a while, I moved into the Communications and Events Co-Lead role and now I organise events around awareness days, attend inductions and careers festivals and host educational sessions online. I also write to our members in the newsletter and on Viva Engage about all the things that Archway is getting up to. In February 2025, for LGBT+ History Month, me and a few of our members wrote and published 28 articles about LGBT+ icons throughout history, one for every day of the month. From activists to sporting legends, writers to artists, we highlighted just a few inspirational figures all the way from the 1800s to present day. Now we are running our Archway 101 series – teaching colleagues all about the community, acronyms, history, pride, intersectionality and so much more. Being a part of Archway and seeing the difference it makes has enabled me to feel safe and seen at work.
In 2023 Archway celebrated its 10th year in operation.
In the last 10 years, Archway has been working with Network Rail and the wider rail industry to create a welcoming and inclusive space for members of the LGBT+ community by producing guidance, consulting on policies, and educating colleagues to help break down stereotypes and reinforce positive behaviour. From just 22 members in 2013 to 1,404 members in 2025 and growing. Having published our first piece of guidance on managing colleagues with HIV/AIDS in 2013, we have continued to produce impactful resources on how to treat your LGBT+ colleagues.
Network Rail joined it’s first Pride event in 2014 – London Pride, an event that we continue to attend. These pride events allow us to show our support in a public and vocal manner. We cheer for the Rail Industry as an ideal career for the community, a place where you can be yourself and be influential at the same time. Archways work hasn’t gone unrecognised, in 2016, an article on Connect called “Being me” got 13,132 views, making it the most read story that year and winning an Ace award for best internal comms. In 2017, Archway was named the corporate LGBT network of the year at the 2017 British LGBT Awards and in 2023 we were recognised as one of the top 100 LGBTQ+ inclusive employers.
As a leadership team, we all bring our unique experiences to the table. We listen to our members and fight to be industry champions when it comes to inclusivity. There’s rarely a time when we hear things from members that one of us can’t personally relate to and that’s the beauty of employee networks. They advocate for the people, from the people and that authenticity plays a big part in driving change. This year we pulled together our new strategy for Archway’s future.
In the last 200 years, as a community, we’ve seen so much change. In 1861, the death penalty for sodomy was abolished, having seen 404 men sentenced to death and 56 executions. In 1946 and 1951, the first sex reassignment surgeries took place, revolutionising the lives of trans people. In 1967, homosexuality became legal in England and Wales. 1972 saw the UK’s first Pride, 200-700 people marched through Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park. In 1980, homosexuality became legal in Scotland and in 1982, it was legalised in Northern Ireland. In 1981, the AIDS crisis began. In 2000, the ban on homosexuals serving in the armed forces was dropped (it wasn’t until 2016 that the law changed formally). In 2002, same-sex couples were allowed to adopt, we then had the Civil Partnership Act 2004, the Gender Recognition Act 2004, the Equality Act 2010, and the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.
In the next 200 years we hope to see even more change, moving towards a society where LGBT+ people are equal to their heterosexual counterparts, where there are equal rights no matter your sexuality or gender. We move towards seeing positive representation in the media and in society, helping to bust down stereotyping and create a peace in our community. As Archway we hope to continue to grow the rail industry as an inclusive place to work, we aim to make sure that education is spread to every part of the industry, from timetablers to train drivers, from engineers to project managers. We hope to keep driving LGBT+ friendly policy and procedure by adopting best practice from LGBT+ employee networks across the UK, to keep connecting LGBT+ people and their allies at work and to help mentor and train influential figures within the community to be successful in their careers. Most of all we aim to be there for every LGBT+ employee within the industry when they need support or help so that nobody has to feel unsafe or unwelcome anywhere at any time within the workplace.
And I’m confident we’ll get there. Thanks to the support of the leadership team and our members as well as senior leaders and other employee networks we have started to see a big shift in culture that can only be described as “on the right tracks”.
