Pride in Action: Creating Spaces for Our LGBTQ+ Community and Connection

I grew up in a small, pretty conservative town in New York. It was the kind of place where people either did not acknowledge LGBTQ+ people or did so in a demeaning way. On top of that, I grew up going to a church that did not support nor acknowledge LGBTQ+ people. I internalized a lot of negative messages as a young person and had a lot of fear coming out to my family and people from my hometown. As I came out to more people and found support in family and friends, I knew I wanted to create spaces where people felt they could show up as their authentic selves and be celebrated for it.

Prioritizing Safety and Celebration Early

Belonging and community directly influence one’s sense of safety. When you feel like you are the only one of any identity, it’s hard to feel at ease. This is especially true for LGBTQ+ youth, who may be grappling with their identity in a world that doesn’t always understand or accept them. When I started teaching 7th grade in Queens, NY, I thought I would be in a place that celebrated diversity–I was in the most ethnically diverse county in the U.S., after all! However, I learned quickly that the district in which I taught was one of few that rejected a city-wide curriculum focused on diversity and inclusion because of the section discussing LGBTQ+ people. I knew a few of my students were queer, and fostering a safe space where they could explore their identities openly felt more crucial than ever. I developed a unit on changemakers, where students could research historic activists like Bayard Rustin and Harvey Milk. Though some parents tried to fight this, I believed it was important they understood the impact of their work. I collaborated with my colleague, the Social Studies teacher, on this unit and he stood with me in refusing to back down from this curriculum.

The challenges LGBTQ+ youth face in feeling safe and accepted often extend into adulthood and the workplace. While schools offer a crucial foundation, fostering psychological safety for LGBTQ+ employees is just as important. Cultivating spaces where individuals feel comfortable taking risks, sharing ideas, and admitting mistakes without fear of negative consequences is essential for building trust, fostering innovation, and ultimately driving success within any organization. It’s this same sense of safety that allows LGBTQ+ employees to bring their best selves to work, contributing their unique perspectives and talents without fear of discrimination or judgment.

Creating Safe Spaces in Rural Oregon

My desire to build spaces continued in 2012, when a few friends and I, along with a group of people incarcerated in a male correctional facility, created a dialogue group to discuss gender, power, and violence. It became a space where a number of trans women on the inside were able to talk about their identity and the struggles of being trans in an institution aligned with their biological sex. For the men in the group, it became a space to interrogate the force of gender roles and how gender played a role in their incarceration. This was, by far, the most meaningful thing I’ve been a part of. My visits to the prison underscored the profound significance of creating community spaces, and inspired me to continue fostering spaces that build community, education and awareness, while also celebrating the LGBTQ+ community. It drove me to commit to building more spaces that foster community and education that celebrates the LGBTQ+ community and raises awareness about the ongoing need for acceptance and equality.

At my previous job, I started a list-serv for LGBTQ+ employees that eventually became a social network for people to meet others like them. There weren’t any Employee Belonging Councils (EBCs) there, so my list-serv became the proxy for one.

Back in 2017, a couple of friends and I started a drag show (called Dam Right Drag Night) in our small community. The first show was on Inauguration Day in 2017 and it was clear that people needed the space our show provided; we had 425 people show up and we had to turn people away due to fire code capacity! Since our town had no designated queer space, we knew we would have to create it and anticipated its need with the campaign promises of the incoming presidential administration.

In the years that we’ve been doing it, we have taken our show into more rural communities. Our current mainstay show is in a town that has not been very openly accepting of LGBTQ+ people and we feel it’s even more important. When I meet new LGBTQ+ people and tell them we do a drag show here, they are so excited! I had one person come up to me at a recent show and say, “Seriously, thank you for doing this. I know that I can come here and just be me without being concerned about what others will think.” It’s been so important to hear things like this from a number of people who have followed us throughout the years. We have also been the starting point for a number of drag performers throughout the area, which has a lasting legacy on queer arts here in Oregon.

Fostering Community at Work

In my current role, and as a chapter lead for Workday’s Pride Employee Belonging Council, I try to engage the many who are remote, or who are in much smaller offices without a local Pride EBC chapter. Strengthening our community is important to me. Some of the ways I’ve done this is through hosting solidarity hours–essentially a happy hour where we can be in community or, in some cases, discuss legislation that threatens our rights.

I have worked with other EBCs to host guest speakers that highlight the importance of intersectional work; so many of us in marginalized communities are members of multiple communities, and our destinies are intertwined. We have to work in solidarity to achieve greater equity for all. I believe in these ways, people have been able to find multiple connection points, either with each other, or the content we’ve discussed. I’ve had a few Workmates share how meaningful these connections have been in finding community as a remote employee. But building community and psychological safety starts from the top including implementing policy changes and creating benefits packages that are inclusive of all.

Workday is continuously working to enhance employee benefits to support the LGBTQ+ community. We currently have access to benefits like reimbursement for adoption, fertility, and surrogacy expenses up to $25,000 per employee.

Moving Forward, Together

Beyond Workday–I want to see our rights secured and expanded. In the United States where I live, we are witnessing some states implement discriminatory legislation against LGBTQ+ people, from drag bans, to sex assigned at birth bathroom requirements, to denying appropriate healthcare to trans people. It is a scary time for a lot of LGBTQ+ people–particularly trans youth–in the United States, as it is in a number of places globally. It will take collective action, including corporations, to fight against this legislation and the states that attempt to enact it. It will take people being aware of what is happening and being willing to advocate and sacrifice their own comfort for those who are in more vulnerable positions than they are (come through, allies!).

June is dedicated to honoring the history, culture, and contributions of LGBTQ+ while raising awareness about the ongoing fight for equality and acceptance. Pride Month may be a time of heightened awareness, but the seeds of a more inclusive future are sown year-round. Let’s keep nurturing them together.

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