Two senior executives at Coles who pushed the supermarket giant to get behind WorldPride say sponsoring the event will have an enormous positive impact on the mental health of about 13,000 of its employees who identify as LGBTQI.

Coles chief of legal David Brewster, a gay man and father of four, and Genevieve Hawkins, the general manager of supply chain for Coles Liquor, are the co-chairs of Coles Pride Steering Committee, a group they set up in 2016.