Happy Pride Month!
June is the time to celebrate queer history, look into the needs of LGBTQ+ folx, and discuss how we can best address them and works together towards creating a more inclusive and safe space for all. It is also a great time to check whether your organisation is walking this walk in order to make sure that its queer employees, clients, and beneficiaries are being treated fairly and do not experience any form of discrimination or aggression. What does it mean? It means that posting about Pride during this month is not enough. In order to be truly queer-friendly you need to ensure that LGBTQ+ people you work with feel safe, included, and provided with equal opportunities.
What can you do about it? You should:
- Make sure your HR team (and everyone else) are trained on the use of proper queer-inclusive language.
- Introduce and actively communicate anti-discriminatory principles and mechanisms for addressing discrimination and any form of aggression based on gender and/or sexual orientation.
- Foster environment with zero-tolerance towards homophobia/transphobia.
- Respect privacy of people and do not reveal their identity unless they are comfortable with it.
- Actively engage in efforts to improve LGBTQ+ inclusion and expand rights of queer people throughout the whole year and not only during Pride Month.
All of it is especially important for organisations that work in the field of citizen engagement and public participation because we cannot talk about inclusion of all if queer folk are left behind or included but at a disadvantaged position. Participation Factory is co-founded by a proudly out queer woman and is based on principle of LGBTQ+ inclusion. Our workspace accept and celebrates people of all identities and strives to provide the safest and most inclusive environment for queer colleagues, clients, and beneficiaries of our projects. As experts on public participation, we believe it’s our responsibility to be at the forefront of the struggle for queer inclusion and equality!