How to Support Pride Month

June is known as Pride Month here in the United States. Commemorating the 1969 Stonewall Riots, Pride Month has become a recognition and celebration of the LGBTQ community. In recent years, many companies have taken to publicly celebrating Pride Month in order to honor and support LGBTQ employees and consumers through rainbow-hued marketing and storytelling. It’s encouraging to see well-intentioned companies signaling their support. But I’ve wondered – how well are these efforts resonating with the LGBTQ population? And are there ways in which companies might bump up the impact of their efforts to something more than symbols of support?

I spoke with Michelle Margulis - Editorial Manager of Podcasts at Macmillan (the parent company of the Modern Mentor podcast). She’s a member of the Macmillan Pride Affinity Group for LGBTQ employees, and in this interview she shares her experiences as a gay woman in the workplace, while offering both companies and individuals some practical advice on how to maximize the impact of their efforts during Pride (and every!) month.

Listen to our full interview here [LINK]

Here are some of the highlights:

Employee benefits

Organizations should take a hard look at employee benefits and ask themselves some critical questions:

• Do you offer equitable parental leave regardless of gender?
• Do you offer trans-related healthcare?
• Do you provide mental health support?

Cultural norms

Beyond benefits, leaders should also consider everyday norms of their company’s culture:

• Are diverse opinions and experiences welcome?
• Are people free to dress in authentic and self-expressive ways?
• Do you harness the strategic wisdom of your LGBTQ employees, inviting them to inform your outreach, your marketing, your product development?

Symbols are good, actions are better

When in doubt, begin with humility. There is no one right way to support the LGBTQ – or any – community.  The only way to know what they need is to ask them.

Margulis sees Pride Month as a wonderful opportunity for “leadership to get really humble and open themselves up to suggestions and to let LGBTQ staff speak to their concerns and needs and hopes for the future without worrying about repercussions.”

“I think it’s all about authenticity, she shared, “and the best way to drill into authenticity is to actually be hearing the voices of the affected community.”

June tends to see a lot of marketing and storytelling overlaid by rainbows. And symbolically, this is a start. But...

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