Advocates say corporations need to include tangible actions with Pride Month efforts. Delstudio/Dreamstime.com

By Adrian St.Onge, Eli J. Ridder

PRIDE 2024

Workplace approach to Pride Month brings mixed feelings for LGBTQ+ community

Jun 11, 2024 | 3:59 PM

Members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community often have mixed feelings about the approach businesses take to Pride Month but a Medicine Hat advocate said Tuesday that sometimes small gestures can make a difference in someone’s life.

Some say the rainbow logos are meaningless virtue signalling while others say it’s an important gesture of support for a minority community.

Social media managers pressing a button to add some rainbow colours to a corporate branding is “maybe not enough”, Jenni Barrientos, president of the Medicine Hat-based Prairie Pride Guild, said.

“But, I do think that it is important that visibility is still something that’s going on, so if that’s all a corporation can do, if all they can do is change their logo, we’ll take it,” she told CHAT News on Tuesday.

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Employers should ask their 2SLGBTQ+ employees what they would like to see for Pride Month from their company and how to best support them, Barrientos said.

The rainbow branding can have an outsized positive impact, however, according to Barrientos.

“Sometimes they may not feel comfortable coming out until that rainbow logo appears,” she said.

Jenni Barrientos, president of the Prairie Pride Guild, says corporations changing their logos is ‘maybe not enough.’ Kevin Kyle/CHAT News

“You see that rainbow logo, and maybe the next time you’re sitting around the water cooler, you feel more comfortable in the workplace that you’re in.”

The chief executive of a nonprofit organization that gives LGBTQ+ leadership development to businesses wrote that companies should focus on meaningful gestures beyond rainbow branding and internal memos.

“Forget the noise and the nonsense, and instead take action based on your vision and your values,” wrote Out and Equal CEO Erin Uritus in a recent column.

“Focus on the greater good. Because the truth is, what’s in the best interest of your coworkers, consumers, and company, is in the best interest of the LGBTQ+ community.”

Comedian Jon Stewart said Monday during The Daily Show that corporate Pride Month celebrations “financially exploit the decades-long struggle of gay people for acceptance and equality.”

2SLGBTQ+ groups and advocates say corporations need to have tangible efforts to promote inclusivity and a safe workspace as part of their Pride Month efforts.

But individuals can also do more in the workplace to be allies, according to Barrientos.

“There’s lots of diversity training available, especially stuff online that people can take to find a way to better themselves,” she said.

“They can reach out to their people who are working in their organization to find out what they want, what they need.”