While celebrating Pride in June is a very important time to honor and show allyship toward the LGBTQIA+ community, supporting them fully requires more than hanging up a rainbow flag and calling it a year.
Some companies launch partnerships with healthcare platforms to provide additional support to LGBTQIA+ employees and their families. Others encourage employee resource groups (ERGs) to help those in the community feel seen, welcomed and heard through programming and other initiatives. Year-round events should highlight the joys, history and challenges the community faces locally and worldwide.
We spoke to three San Francisco tech companies who are making these efforts and more to celebrate Pride this month and ensure their LGBTQIA+ team members feel continuously supported by the business and their teammates 365 days per year.
Healthcare marketing and communications platform Real Chemistry strives to be a welcoming and inclusive place for LGBTQIA+ team members, according to Karla Talley. The director of DEI said the company’s culture incorporates an open-door policy for LGBTQIA+ members to have candid discussions with leaders and allies about whatever they’d like.
How is Real Chemistry celebrating Pride throughout the month of June?
This year we will be dedicating our Pride programming to highlighting the Black and Afro-Latinx trans experience. Each week, we’ll be releasing company-wide content to share more information on trans issues. Our programming centerpiece will be a panel hosted in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign and other organizations focused on how communications professionals can get involved and help foster intersectionality at every step of patient care for transgender individuals.
Our programming centerpiece will be a panel hosted in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign.”
Beyond the month of June, how does Real Chemistry support the LGBTQIA+ community?
We have a business resource group (BRG) called “Out Professionals & Allies Leading” (OPAL) that connects the LGBTQIA+ community at Real Chemistry and allows us to share resources and stories. OPAL partners with other Real Chemistry BRGs to create inclusive programming all year. Important dates are shared with all employees, such as marking events in LGBTQIA+ history. Programming in October centers around sharing stories of coming out and we typically focus on stories of individuals in healthcare or communications in line with our industry.
How does Real Chemistry empower the LGBTQIA+ members of your team?
OPAL provides members of the LGBTQIA+ community and allies the space to discuss current events, media and other relevant topics, as well as personal events if they’re comfortable doing so. Our DEI team and OPAL have an open-door policy so employees can come to either with any questions they may have or situations they would like counsel on. Staff members are also encouraged to add their pronouns to their email signature.
Gabriel Z. Sands is Reddit’s senior partnerships manager for news, entertainment and sports, as well as lead liaison for its LGBTQIA+ ERG. He said the company is doubling down on the support the ERG provides the LGBTQIA+ community by partnering with a healthcare platform to offer additional resources.
How is Reddit celebrating Pride throughout the month of June?
At Reddit, this year’s Pride celebration will be centered around a half-day, company-wide “Pride Summit” that will feature celebrity appearances, discussion panels and lots of other fun programming. Throughout June, employees will also be presenting various aspects of queer history and identity at all-hands meetings.
Additionally, we are working in collaboration with our “Black People Reddit” ERG to highlight intersectional identities, as Pride month coincides with Juneteenth.
We are working in collaboration with our ‘Black People Reddit’ ERG to highlight intersectional identities.”
Beyond the month of June, how does Reddit support the LGBTQIA+ community?
Reddit has several employee-led ERGs, including ones that support and advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, and the company provides a lot of support to help empower and grow them with practical resources and programs for employees. For example, Reddit recently launched a partnership with Included Health, a concierge healthcare platform that helps LGBTQIA+ employees find healthcare professionals that suit their needs.
How does Reddit empower the LGBTQIA+ members of your team?
We have two employee resource groups that serve the queer community: LGBTQsnoo and trans@reddit. Both of these groups are active all year and support a number of functions: A hub for LGBTQIA+ employees to connect and build community; partnering with the recruiting team to help diversify Reddit’s recruiting efforts; and providing regular programming to help raise awareness and build allyship across the company.
SDR Enablement Manager Eric Lindroos said the revenue intelligence platform Gong places a high value on its “Gong Circles” aka ERGs. As co-lead of “Proud Gongsters,” Lindroos said members of that and other Circles have a lot of agency to facilitate events, which Proud Gongsters is taking advantage of this month and beyond.
How is Gong celebrating Pride throughout the month of June?
Pride is a year-long celebration for Gong, but we’ll be leveraging the month of June to host weekly team events. Each of our regularly-scheduled virtual events will take on a Pride theme, like a global panel discussion to spotlight our LGBTQIA+ employees. We plan on relaying the importance of Pride during our weekly wellness-focused classes such as “Gong Class Heroes” and “Gong’s Got Breathwork” along with a team-wide drag bingo event to close out the month.
Beyond the month of June, how does Gong support the LGBTQIA+ community?
We encourage members of our teams in the LGBTQIA+ community and other underrepresented groups to join our ERGs known as Gong Circles, or to support as an ally. Gong Circles focus on advancing a sense of belonging and inclusion within the Gong community. Throughout the year, each Circle has the opportunity to host ongoing events, discussions or learning opportunities within their own groups, or with the broader Gong team.
Gong Circles focus on advancing a sense of belonging and inclusion within the Gong community.”
How does Gong empower the LGBTQIA+ members of your team?
Since establishing Gong Circles, we created our Proud Gongsters community to bring together and recognize LGBTQIA+ Gongsters in a positive and non-judgmental environment. Employees from around the world that identify as LGBTQIA+ can join Proud Gongsters to fully express their individuality, share their experiences and feel safe in a community void of discrimination, prejudice and inequality.
