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Supporting and celebrating the LGBTQ community at work is important, especially during pride. Read on to learn how your work can celebrate pride month.

How Your Business Can Show Support for the LGBTQ During Pride Month:

Every year when the month of June rolls around, two major things are happening within our country. The heat of summer is setting in and we come together as a nation to support our LGBTQ citizens during Pride month. The month of June is dedicated to energetic dancing, uplifting music, massive parades, and rainbow flags waving in the summer breeze, all of which have their roots in decades of work by the dedicated LGBTQ+ rights activists who made these celebrations possible. In San Francisco alone, men like Harvey Milk and women like Theresa Sparks amplified LGBTQ+ rights messages and raised our community’s profile. 

This is the one month out of the entire year where anyone who finds themselves on the LGBTQ+ spectrum are celebrated and recognized rather than marginalized and scrutinized for their sexuality. Pride month commemorates years of struggle for civil rights and the pursuit of equality for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and queers alike.

On June 2nd in the year 2000, President Bill Clinton declared the month of June, “Gay and Lesbian Pride Month” in honor of the Stone Wall Riots that took place in New York City back in the summer of 1969. In 2009, President Obama revamped the month of June to be known as Pride month. Seemingly, the celebrations within all 50 states have only become greater and more colorful since.

Let’s take a look at how you and your organization can celebrate Pride and uplift the ongoing work of securing equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community.

5 Ways Your Business Can Show Their Support for the LGBTQ

1. Take part in local pride parades and LGBTQ events throughout the year. This can come in the form of businesses sponsoring floats and banners, or that business representing themselves in the parade with members of their own company. Although partaking in the parade shows support and is a step in the right direction, this could potentially lead to the commercialization of Pride. With that being said companies can show greater support by donating to the LGBTQ community throughout the year.
2. Companies can fly the rainbow flag at their offices. This solution costs as much as purchasing and installing the flag, but shows unwavering support!
3. Creating an anti-harassment policy that includes language around LGBTQ discrimination is a great step towards a more inclusive workspace. Without these types of rules or policies, this could lead to marginalization within the workspace and create an uncomfortable environment for members of the staff that are on the spectrum.
4. Aside from the LGBTQ friendly policies in place, companies can also hold training sessions with their staff on diversity and inclusion. These training sessions could include what terms and comments are offensive to the LGBTQ, how to overcome and prevent stereotypes, and addressing common misconceptions about the LGBTQ commnity.
5. Rebranding social media profiles to feature rainbow colored logos, cover photos, products and entirely themed rainbow campaigns to support pride month. This is an easy way for a company to show support for the LGBTQ and it is always nice to switch things up, even if it only may be for the month of June.

If you live in San Francisco, don’t hesitate to join the GGBA! Our work uplifts and celebrates LGBTQ+ business throughout the year. Contact us at [email protected] or click here to apply today https://ggba.com/join-ggba/ 

Equality for All

Since the Stonewall Riots, we have come a long way as a society. Four years after the riots, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from an extensive list of mental illnesses. Then, nearly 45 years later on June 26th 2015, the supreme court made the historic decision to strike down a ban on same sex marriage, legalizing it across all 50 states. 

This decision was a nearly fairytale ending to Pride in 2015. The legalization of same sex marriage was celebrated not only by the LGBTQ+ community, but American citizens from all walks of life. For the first time in American history, the White House was lit up with the colors of the rainbow as crowds thousands deep celebrated outside the Pennsylvania Avenue gates. 

The celebrations spanned coast to coast with rainbow fireworks lighting up the night skies from New York City to San Francisco. These celebrations proved that the LGBTQ does not stand alone in the fight for equality and showed true promise for the future of our nation.

Fun Events to Showcase Pride Month in the Office

1. Begin a Pride based social media campaign. Your business could choose a specific member of theirs, or any local LGBTQ member to highlight through the use of an IGTV story. This can either be facilitated by a personable host or just having them tell their own unique story in front of the camera. Your company could also begin implementing the use of pride hashtags on all their posts like #proudtogether or #pridestrong so messages can be seen by a larger, like minded audience.
2. Host drag contest. This could be seen in a couple of different ways. Businesses could do it internally and have their own members dress up in drag and take photos/ videos of the process to post to their followers. They can also host a drag contest with professionals and amateurs alike, either at a local park or rent out an event space. Companies could charge admission to the drag event and also encourage people to shower the “Queens” with cash- knowing that all profits will go back into the LGBTQ community.
3. Host a viewing party of this year’s “Global Pride.” An international virtual event that will hit each time zone with new content, performances and speeches by renowned members of the LGBTQ community. This is the first time this event will ever occur due to COVID, as there is normally a massive world pride held each summer by a different host city. Last year world pride was hosted in New York City, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
4. Host a sort of “Gay Games”.  Prompt other local LBGTQ friendly offices to come out and compete against each other. At these games companies would select team members to compete in different events such as the 3 legged race,  pie eating contest and water balloon tosses. The winners could be incentivized with either a cash prize, trophy or simply bragging rights as champions until the next year’s games.
5. Host a pride themed talent show. Where members of the LGBTQ community could come out and perform in front of an audience. Audience members could be encouraged to give donations which in the end will be redistributed back into the LGBTQ community.

Join GGBA Celebrations

Here’s what the GGBA has on offer for this year’s virtual Pride:

• Pride: June Make Contact (06/17/2020). Register here!
• UK Embassy (Webinar Focus) (06/23/2020). Register here!

We would love to share Pride 2020 with you!

Celebrate Together

Whether your business decides to go all out and celebrate Pride month with a drag show, or simply showing support by making donations to the LGBTQ community- no action will go unnoticed. As the world’s first first LGBTQ chamber of commerce, we love supporting LGBTQ friendly businesses and believe that by coming together, we can really make a positive change in our society.

Are you ready to spunk up your Pride month? Contact us with any more questions you might have when it comes to raising awareness or celebrating this June.

Our email is [email protected] and we look forward to hearing from you!