Pride Month!

It’s June, and that means it’s Pride Month.

At a time when people around the world are protesting against racial inequality and standing up for transgender rights, it’s important to remember that Pride is about more than a parade. Pride is celebrated in many countries annually, in June, to honour the 1969 Stonewall uprising in New York City, when many people came together to play a pivotal role in protesting against police misconduct and fighting for LGBTQ+ rights. 54 years later, and Pride remains a powerful call for equality, working to achieve equal justice and equal opportunity for the entire LGBTQ+ community.

In the past few decades, the world has made great strides forward in LGBTQ+ acceptance and equality. However, the workplace is an area in LGBTQ+ people’s lives where they often do not have the same opportunity to thrive as everyone else.

According to Stonewall UK:

• One in five LGBTQ+ people were the target of negative comments at work
• Over a third of LGBTQ+ people feel they need to hide who they are at work
• One in five feel that being LGBTQ+ limits their job opportunities

It therefore rings true, that when companies add their voice to that call, it can go a long way toward making LGBTQ+ employees feel safe, supported and seen at work. 

“The beauty of standing up for your rights is others see you standing and stand up as well” – Cassandra Duffy

Ways in which JCK continues to show our solidarity and support with our LGBTQ+ community:

• Conducting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion discussions and workshops throughout the past two years
• Empowering colleagues to call out inappropriate language or behaviour if witnessed in the workplace
• Using an external company, Diversity Matters, to evaluate our policies, procedures and standards surrounding EDI
• Introducing pronouns to email signatures – helping clients and colleagues from inadvertently misgendering an individual. All colleagues are asked if they would like to use these upon joining the firm, and can chose to add them at any time
• Created Pride Microsoft Teams Backgrounds for all colleagues to make use of
• Provided printable Straight Ally flags for colleagues to place at their desks for Pride month, or all year round
• Promotion of Pride Month across our internal and external channels
• Pride celebration in all our offices, with decorations, educational conversation starters, pizza and sweet treats for all

Remember, Pride is for everyone.