It’s almost August 1st. All the rainbow flags have been removed from companies’ logos; the national retail stores have discontinued their Pride merchandise; the local coffee shop has removed its “5% of all sales support LGBTQ+ communities!” promotion. Although many organizations supported queer communities during the month of June, we need to hold people accountable and continue this activism throughout the rest of the year. If a company wants to say that they support LGBTQ+ communities – let’s make it happen together! Here are some ways to support queer communities after Pride and for the rest of our gay lives:
- Educate
- A great way to help the LGBTQ+ community is to begin educating yourself. Whether it’s ways to get involved in volunteering, learning about the queer community or simply finding ways to have difficult conversations, taking the time to educate yourself is important. This is a constant journey that each person can take the time to go on. With education comes acceptance!
- Shop LGBTQ+
- A great way to support queer communities throughout the year is by supporting their businesses and buying susGAYinably (please don’t come after me for that subpar pun). Uplifting LGBTQ+ owned businesses is a fantastic way to show your support while literally supporting them – look up some local queer businesses and check them out. In the meantime, here are some big LGBTQ+ owned brands: EqualLove, Automatic Gold, and We Are Fluide.
- Promote/Hire Queer
- If your company claims to promote LGBTQ+ inclusion, let’s see if they can walk the walk. Do they have queer people on their leadership team? Or at least have diversity & inclusion experts? Is DE&I a priority for their culture or on the back-burner? These are the questions you need to ask an employee and if your leadership team doesn’t have the time to implement these changes, take the initiative yourself. Talk to HR about making your workplace more inclusive – all it takes is one person being proactive to make a change. If you don’t have the power to hire more LGBTQ+ representation, try and use your company’s platform to elevate queer voices. A small action can create a ripple effect!
- Donate
- As someone who works at a nonprofit, I can say this: the most helpful way to donate is when it’s done consistently. Monthly donations are our bread and butter, make our worlds go round, and *insert another cliché about being happy*. That being said, I know that not everyone can keep up with a monthly donation. Anything that you can donate to an organization that support LGBTQ+ communities is amazing! It’s just an added bonus if it’s a monthly donation. There are fabulous local nonprofits in every large city around the country to support but some great national organizations to donate to are The Trevor Project, Transgender Law Center and the Human Rights Center.
Sources:
How to Support the LGBTQ Community as an Ally After Pride Month
How to Support the LGBTQIA+ Community after Pride Month
Five Ongoing Ways To Help Your Local Community After Pride Month
