How These Companies Are Celebrating Pride (Virtually!) in 2020
In a year that has been marked by so much change, uncertainty, and devastation, it's never been more important to celebrate everything that Pride stands for: self-affirmation, dignity, and equality.
Here's how 22 of our partner companies are keeping the spirit of Pride alive in their workplaces, reminiscing about Pride celebrations and parades from years past, and most importantly, advocating for equality for LGBTQ+ individuals this month and all year round:
PwC
"At PwC, we are committed to a culture of belonging where diverse individuals can form a genuine community. Pride Month is an opportunity for the firm and our people to demonstrate that purpose and inclusion. Throughout June, external articles, #PwCPride social media, and a video will feature PwCers courageously sharing their coming-out stories, highlighting supportive benefits and explaining why they can bring their whole selves to work.
We also look forward to virtually celebrating with various activities focused on advocating, educating, and entertaining during Pride Month.The PwC US National Shine Committee will be hosting a Pride trivia night, fundraising for AIDS/LifeCycle, and streaming a national Pride Month webcast."
Learn more about PwC here.
Flatiron Health, Inc.
"Though we can't be together in-person this Pride, we can still strengthen our community and bring it together. While we are hosting virtual events, including a cooking class and a panel, we are placing an emphasis on recognizing our history, remembering the BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) and TGNC (Trans/Gender Non-Conforming) folx who led uprisings against police brutality and violence. We are educating ourselves and our allies on systemic racism and appropriation within our LGBTQ+ community, and determining actions we can take to ensure long-lasting change."
Learn more about Flatiron Health, Inc here.
Bristol Myers Squibb
"Our team has developed a set of virtual activities that promise to be engaging, informative, and fun, all aligned with our four priorities for the year: Addressing Covering and Inclusion in the workplace through our Keynote storytelling event, supporting colleagues' professional development, advancing external recruiting through social media, and educating our workforce on the work BMS is supporting to positively impact LGBTQ+ health disparities. We'll also create a virtual mosaic pride flag from pictures our members submit that we'll reveal at the end of June!"
Learn more about Bristol Myers Squibb here.
PagerDuty
"PagerDuty has long celebrated Pride, and our colleagues look forward to Pride Week each year. Our challenge: how can we give them the same great experience when everyone is working from home? Our RainbowDuty employee resource group looked at the past events and found some that are Zoom-friendly: our always-popular panel discussion and our screening of selected TED talks. We also adapted some of our other activities - our "wear a Pride color" events changed to "color your Zoom background", for example. And we replaced some events, such as our happy hours, with more virtual-friendly activities like a trivia night."
Learn more about PagerDuty here.
Freddie Mac
"Freddie Mac - Celebrating Pride Month Virtually at Freddie Mac - Our Pride employee resource group (ERG) is hosting virtual activities and programs throughout Pride Month to celebrate and honor the diversity of our community. In lieu of the 2020 Pride Parade, Pride ERG members will showcase what Pride means to them in a virtual parade of Tik Tok videos and other talents streamed via Microsoft Teams. Mid-month, Pride is teaming up with our Working Parents ERG to host an LGBTQ+ parenting panel that covers everything from advice around children coming out to their family to understanding Freddie Mac's adoption benefits — and more. Later in the month, we're bringing in bi+ activist and speaker Robin Ochs to lead a training on the bisexual, pansexual and fluid employee experience in the workplace based on data from her studies."
Learn more about Freddie Mac here.
Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT)
"TpT is celebrating Pride Month with a number of events and experiences led by Flora, ourLGBTQ Employee Resource Group. This year, like the rest of the world, we're going virtual! The group will organize everything from Pride events to a panel discussion featuring a few LGBTQ members from our 150k+ seller community.
Additionally, our marketing team is assembling branded blog posts and features with our greater community of 6M+ educators."
Learn more about TpT here.
Quip
- Trivia through Kahoot and topics include
- Pop culture references - 80s/90s
- LGBTQ Celebrities
- Rupaul's Drag Race
- Wearing rainbow the entire day
- Sharing a Pride playlist for people to enjoy
- Host a Quip LGBTQ panel with volunteers and moderator."
National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
Watch the video above to learn more about support for LGTBQ+ employees and past pride celebrations at National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
Learn more about National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency here.
Kin + Carta
"Kin + Carta is celebrating Pride with a theme of #YouUsMeWe which calls on each of us to reach out and understand one another, demanding us to be better allies within our communities. Themes of intersectionality have been incorporated into every piece of our celebrations — educating our Kin on the existing intersections within the LGBTQIA+ community (race, gender, socioeconomic class, age, disability, etc.) Kin + Carta has planned an allyship workshop, a panel discussion, a pub quiz, and educational materials for employees. These Pride events and materials are intended to strengthen the ways we support and advocate for one another at Kin + Carta."
Learn more about Kin + Carta here.
Elastic
"Historically, Pride is celebrated with large outdoor events around the world. Due to the current pandemic, we're doing things a little differently this year. Elastic's Source Code invites employees to come "As YOU Are" to Elastic, so we've created Pride-themed Zoom backgrounds for folks to download to celebrate our LGBTQA+ employees virtually throughout the month of June. Elastic is also matching our employee donations to LGBTQIA + organizations throughout the month of June. To learn more about about our Pride celebrations read this blog post → https://go.es.io/2XzwgPB"
Learn more about Elastic here.
Spotify
"At Spotify, our Pride theme this year is "Unlike Any Other." Now more than ever this theme rings true. On our platform, we welcome back the Pride Hub for playlists and podcasts that amplify LGBTQAI + creators and, in particular, Queer Black voices via our "The House of…" playlists. In addition our Kids App will be featuring a Pride playlist this year called, Love is Love, aimed to inspire self acceptance. For our employees we're doing a day long virtual celebration and have rolled out special Pride email signatures, Zoom backgrounds and pronoun stickers. We will continue to celebrate Pride all year in our different markets around the world. Follow @spotifyjobs on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram."
Learn more about Spotify here.
MongoDB
"MongoDB is hosting a session to amplify intersectional voices within the LGBTQ+ community. This is part of "Decoding Inclusion," an internal series aimed at building community and sharing foundational knowledge about D&I topics to further our understanding of differences. There are two affinity groups that aim to maintain a safe space for the community; Queeries, for those identifying as LGBTQ+ or questioning, and Underrepresented Genders in Tech (UGT) for people of underrepresented genders in technical roles. This June, MongoDB will also host events for employees around the globe, including "The ABCs of LGBT+," drag bingo, and more."
Learn more about MongoDB here.
T. Rowe Price
"T. Rowe Price is offering virtual Pride experiences globally. We are connecting our associates to Global Pride 2020, a virtual celebration of Pride featuring musical performances, speeches, and key messages from human rights activists across the globe. Associates are also participating in the Denver Virtual Pride Parade, through a video montage. For the first time ever, the T. Rowe Price headquarters will display rainbow lights in support of our associates, friends, and family members in the LGBTQ+ starting June 15th. The firm continues to match associates' donations to nonprofits that address key issues important to the LBGT community."
Learn more about T. Rowe Price here.
S&P Global
"In celebration of Pride Month, Spectrum, S&P Global's LGBTQ+ & Friends Employee Resource Group, is hosting several virtual events to mark the occasion. Spectrum's Mexico City chapter will lead a discussion for employees across North America and Latin America on building a more inclusive world. Spectrum's Singapore chapter will host a virtual lunch for their members the day prior to the Singapore Pink Dot celebration. In addition, S&P Global will share profiles of our LGBTQ+ colleagues internally and on social media. All of our actions and messages to mark Pride Month are in solidarity with the members of our Black community at this critical time."
Learn more about S&P Global here.
Priceline
"Last year, employees from Priceline, as well as our parent and sister companies, marched together in the Pride Parade in New York.
This year, Priceline will be honoring Pride Month by incorporating it in Project QuaranTEAM (Quarantine Engagement Program). Next week, we are asking employees to include rainbow colors in their Zoom backgrounds as well as dress up in tie-dye and/or rainbow colors on Wednesday (Wednesday is Priceline Pride Day). We wish everyone a healthy, safe and happy Pride Month!"
Learn more about Priceline here.
Karat, Inc.
"Last month, Karat unveiled a new candidate feature that asks candidates their preferred pronouns. Below are a couple of quotes from the team addressing why this was an important project to prioritize this year, and how we went about making the changes to be as inclusive and sensitive as possible: "We've all been on the candidate side at least once if not many many times. We apply, interview, and all the while hope that not only are we communicating ourselves in our most authentic versions but that we're being accepted and celebrated too. Karat plays such a fundamental role in that process. We have the opportunity to lean into our candidates' stories and lift them up. The pronoun selector is just one of many ways we try to recognize and celebrate our candidates to ensure they're recognized and celebrated at work." - Irena Lam (she/her), Karat Senior Product Manager
"All interviews are at heart a conversation, the hopeful start of a long working relationship. Accurately recording a candidate's name and pronouns is a small part of building a healthy work relationship, one that not only sets up coworkers to gracefully meet and refer to a new hire without hesitation or confusion or embarrassment but also sets up new hires to shine and contribute their full potential." - Lusen Mendel (they/them), Karat Director of Developer Relations
"Our design team researched extensively to ensure we approached this feature with intention and care. We learned it's key not just to know exactly why we're asking for it but to communicate that transparently with the candidate. English as a second language was another important perspective our product designer considered, to ensure our language was clear for folks more familiar with English pronouns or less." - Irena Lam (she/her), Karat Senior Product Manager
Learn more about Karat, Inc. here.
Deloitte LLP
"Across the country, Deloitte's Inclusion Councils are celebrating Pride with virtual events, including a Pride-themed Zoom background contest, Pride trivia, and hosting important discussions on advancing inclusion. Our people are also supporting the LGBTQ+ community through giving and virtual volunteering."
Learn more about Deloitte LLP here.
Moody's Corporation
"Moody's strongly supports our LGBT employees and are proud to be named a top employer by the Human Rights Campaign and Stonewall UK. For Pride Month 2020, we have created a global Pride Calendar, encouraging our employers to research and learn about LGBT history each day in June. This year, as we cannot celebrate in person, we are hosting several virtual activities around the world, such as trivia nights, fireside chats and documentary screenings, as well as participating in the virtual AIDS Walk in New York City. Additionally, we are proudly displaying our rainbow Moody's logo across all online platforms."
Learn more about Moody's Corporation here.
Lattice
"Although bummed we can't celebrate Pride with in-person events, we are excited to try it virtually. Latticians have put together the following events for Lattice:
- MasterClass: "RuPaul Teaches Self-Expression and Authenticity"
- Pride Happy Hour
- Movie Night: "How to Survive a Plague" with a discussion, and a fundraiser."
Learn more about Lattice here.
Relativity LLC
"At Relativity, our LGBTQ+ focused Community Resource Group, Relativity Pride, has planned for a month full of programming to celebrate and recognize Pride Month. From social media posts in our Pride gear, a trivia night, and special Zoom backgrounds, to a panel about Allies and how they can contribute to experiences within the LGBTQ+ community, it will be a month of learning, supporting, and sharing stories, with celebration mixed in. In addition to our internal plans, Relativity is a sponsor of the Lesbians Who Tech Global Pride Summit on June 22-26."
Learn more about Relativity LLC here.
Raytheon Intelligence & Space
"During Pride month, we commemorate the positive impact that the LGBTQ community has had on society. We are proud to see Raytheon Intelligence & Space create a culture of inclusion so everyone can bring their whole self to work,"- David Broadbent and Eric Ditmars, Raytheon Intelligence & Space executive diversity champions
Learn more about Raytheon Intelligence & Space here.
Guru Technologies
"This Pride Month, we're celebrating the people that made LGBTQ+ history, those who took on the fight for equal rights that we continue today. These groundbreaking heroes made art, policy, and culture that changed this country for the better. As part of Guru's ongoing commitment to fight racism, we are specifically celebrating the Black heroes who are often overlooked in LGBTQ+ history. We've created several Zoom backgrounds to help celebrate."
You can view the Zoom backgrounds and learn more about some of the heroes Guru is celebrating here.
Learn more about Guru Technologies here.
