What is one concrete and meaningful way to support LGBTQ+ beyond Pride Month?

If any company is genuinely interested in supporting the LGBTQ+ community beyond Pride Month, deeper, more long-lasting connections have to be made and maintained. One way to show your support is to invest in advertising space at LGBTQ+ events and in digital and print media. By doing this, you have forged a connection with the community and shown that regardless of gender identity, you are open for trade with all groups. Take it a stage further by customizing your advertisements specifically for that group of people. By showing same-sex couples in your advertisements you are helping to normalize these minorities and helping to remove discrimination against them.

A major facet of supporting the LGBTQ+ community is a move away from viewing gender as a binary. Choosing gender-neutral language over gendered ensures that everyone feels represented and included, not just those who identify as men and women. The way we communicate with each other is hugely important to inclusivity, so adopting a more gender-neutral frame of mind can be the difference between affirming someone's existence or not. From a business perspective, reviewing written policies like benefits packages and dress codes to ensure they aren't strictly gendered, being respectful of people's pronouns, and making some simple language swaps, such as "folks" instead of "guys" or "ladies and gentlemen" are all ways to shift mindsets towards gender neutrality and support the LGBTQ+ community every day, not just during Pride Month.

Companies can ensure all year round that their hiring practices are inclusive and adequately support people in the LGBTQ+ community. Doing this can take many forms, from using gender-neutral language in recruiting materials, to making sure interviewers undergo LGBTQ+ competency training. You can also be proactive in reaching out to qualified folks in community, such as posting job opportunities in LGBTQ+ centers.

Pride month is only a symbolic/celebration for LGBTQ+ communities. Supporting them only in pride month by waving the LGBTQ+ flag is nothing helpful for them. One concrete and meaningful way to support LGBTQ+ people is to learn about their issues and how you can be an ally. You should stand up against discrimination and violence against LGBTQ+ people by volunteering at local communities and joining rallies or by simply reaching out to LGBTQ+ friends and family members to let them know that you love and support them.

While celebrating Pride Month is a great start, LGBTQ+ employees need support the rest of the year, too. The best way to do that is to implement diversity and inclusion training to educate yourself and other employees about the experiences of and problems that face different groups of people, including LGBTQ+ people. Not only can education help everyone to learn how they can become better allies, it will also help to reduce microaggressions and other problems that may be borne out of ignorance. Training can show employees that inclusion and diversity are a core part of the company culture, which can make all employees feel more comfortable and engaged. The same training and culture can apply to any group of people all year, not just during the months that celebrate those groups.

One of the most meaningful ways to support LGBTQ+ workers beyond Pride Month is to create an employee resource group. These staff-led committees are safe spaces where team members can gather, commiserate, celebrate their identities, and help each other. These groups also often lead initiatives to educate fellow employees and make the workplace more inclusive. Here is a guide to employee resource groups: https://teambuilding.com/blog/employee-resource-groups

Shopping at LGBTQ+ owned stores is an easy and meaningful way to support their cause beyond Pride Month. Direct financial contributions to LGBT businesses provide crucial financial support they need to sustain their operations—the longer they remain in business, the longer they can continue to promote their values of acceptance and inclusion. Furthermore, making periodical purchases through their stores doesn’t require much effort, but is still a solid way to show support.

One solid way to continue to support LGBTQ+ beyond Pride Month is to invest in employee resource groups (ERGs). Providing employees an ERG that supports the LGBTQ+ community in the workplace is an invaluable support system. Appoint someone passionate about the community who will invest the time to build and promote the ERG. If your company already has an ERG, make sure to push to invest further in their commitment to the LGBTQ+ workforce.

Support comes in all sorts of packages. Though supporting the LGBTQ+ community in private conversations doesn’t have the same reach as getting local politicians to speak out, those small conversations help change our collective outlook over time. Correct the speaker's mistake if you hear someone misgendered in front of you. If someone makes an insensitive joke or remark, state clearly that you don’t find it funny or appreciate it. Take the conversation further to explain why it matters - many of us operate out of ignorance, not hate, and sharing a different perspective can result in an immediate mindset shift. Expressing your feelings about their problematic language doesn't need to become a conflict. Keep your language clear and leave the dramatics out of the conversation - progress only comes when the other party feels safe and respected. Saying nothing may seem like the best way to avoid conflict, but it only further condones the behavior that desperately needs to change.

Be a dedicated customer to LGBTQ+ owned businesses. A concrete and meaningful way to support LGBTQ+ beyond Pride Month is to be a dedicated customer, buy their products, and tell your friends about them. You can say you support a cause, but when you buy products from a business, you are actively supporting the livelihoods of those owners and their employees. Word of mouth can also be hugely impactful for businesses. When you tell your friend about this awesome LGBTQ+ owned business and their mission, odds are, your friend will check them out. We can’t pretend we don’t live in a capitalist society, and as such, we need to put our money where our mouth is when it comes to supporting equality.

In favor of family-friendly policies. When it comes to parental leave, HR policies that favor natural birth over adoption or surrogacy are discriminatory towards couples who identify as LGBTQ+. Discussions about family policies and solutions in your firm should begin with your human resources department and/or top management to ensure that they are inclusive of all families.

One concrete and meaningful way is to ensure that your workplace is inclusive and welcoming to all employees, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. This can be done by implementing fair and inclusive policies, expanding diversity and inclusion training, and creating an employee resource group for LGBTQ+ employees. There may also be organizations that support LGBTQ+ youth, such as Rainbow Railroad, which helps LGBTQ+ people escape violence and persecution. You can support their work by making your organization a safe space for LGBTQ+ employees, donating to their cause, or volunteering your time. Brands may also introduce products and services that are inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community. For example, many businesses are now offering pronoun options on their website and social media platforms. By doing this, you send a strong message of inclusivity and support to the LGBTQ+ community.

Supporting the LGBTQ+ community has to go way beyond simply adding a rainbow symbol to your website or merchandise in the hope of cashing in on the goodwill spread during Pride month. If your company is intent on providing real support, one way is to contribute to the preservation of sites of symbolic interest to the members of the community. The most famous of these is the Stonewall National Monument in New York, in remembrance of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a series of protests demanding equal rights for the gay community. However, many places throughout the world have their own places of interest, and all of them deserve the right to be recognized and preserved. By supporting these sites, you can show ongoing support for our LGBTQ+ members and make a lasting difference to the legacy of our times.

Requesting and correctly using people's gender pronouns creates a culture of respect by not relying on perceptions to assume someone's gender identity. Today people use pronouns, such as he/him, she/her, they/them, or neopronouns like ze/hir in various combinations. And to create a more inclusive environment, introducing yourself to new people by stating your own pronouns makes it more comfortable for trans and gender-nonconforming people to make known their correct pronouns. Including pronouns in your email signature and social media profiles, as well as on your business cards, is also an excellent way to give people a choice to share theirs.

In the past year there have been over 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in states across the country. These bills cover such things as providing state funding for debunked “conversion therapy,” restrict access to gender affirming care for young people, and even limit the instruction of LGBTQ+ matters in school. In short, there has been an assault by a small number of states, mostly concentrated in the South, on LGBTQ+ rights. And although President Biden recently signed an executive order to combat these state laws, you as a company can add further weight to this movement. By cutting off work with vendors that are headquartered in these states, you’ll be sending a very clear message, backed by financial consequences. The hope is that in turn, these companies will lobby their own state legislatures to roll back these bigoted bills. If more companies stood together in protest of businesses from these states, it might have a real effect in the aggregate.

The answer should be fairly obvious: support LGBTQ+ individuals, organizations, and businesses throughout the year. Having appreciation months is a fantastic way to re-ignite conversations and passions, but our dedication to inclusion and equality shouldn't end on July 1st. The point of Pride Month isn't to be a temporary spotlight on exceptional LGBTQ+ individuals, but to highlight just how integrated and indispensable LGBTQ+ communities are as a part of our whole society. I guarantee, there are LGBTQ+ owned business and organizations in your area that you can support, and while Pride month might illuminate that reality, we can spend all year supporting them.

Diversity drives innovation! When we have people at the table from different perspectives, experiences, and environments, ideas will be broader and bigger. We need to recruit, onboard, and retain employees who look very different from the founders; differences in gender, ethnicity, race, and LGBTQ employees are critical. Once you hire these folks, recognize them for their differences and reward them for their insights, ideas, and innovative solutions.

Partnering with LGBTQ+ owned businesses is a great way to support the community. Such partnerships will not only signal support but will tangibly benefit both parties as well. These connections will empower LGBTQ+ workers in your organization and provide them with leadership opportunities. Additionally, a collaboration will benefit the other entity and can open up new possibilities for the local community at large. Hosting events is a great idea as well as establishing long-term, everyday collaborations.

Being a business ally to LGBTQ+ communities means improving practices at all levels, not just outward facing communication. One way you can show that you are a company who is focusing on inclusivity by ensuring that your company uses gender-neutral language across the board. Not only should you watch for this language in outward communications to customers, but also make it a priority in internal communications, to prove that you are a company committed to inclusivity beyond supporting customers but by taking care of your employees as well. This means watching out for gendered language in email marketing, content creation for social media, blog posts, and all internal company communications and materials.

Establish a strong partnership with LGBTQ+ organizations that empower gender equality and advocate for eradicating gender biases. Doing this enables you to learn best practices to create a more diverse and inclusive culture in the workplace. Through genuine affiliations, you can encounter LGBTQ+ experts and seek their advice. Invite them to your company programs and give them the spotlight to discuss topics related to gender equality at work, which includes showing respect to the LGBTQ community in general.