So Your Company Wants To Be An LGBTQ+ Ally? Listen To GLAAD

For 37 years, GLAAD has been working to advance cultural change in the media, in boardrooms and around the world on behalf of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and queer people. Now, on the eve of Pride month, the world’s largest LGBTQ+ media advocacy organization is releasing a new guide for corporate leaders on how to be true allies of the community.

“Corporate accountability does not begin and end with employee benefits and hiring practices—it extends to how a corporation spends its dollars, philanthropic and political,” said GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “It extends to how a corporation takes public stands and lobbies against anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, and how it supports and lobbies for pro-LGBTQ+ legislation, because this legislation impacts LGBTQ+ employees and consumers.”

As any journalist who toils in coverage of the LGBTQ+ population will tell you, June is the month major corporations sprout rainbows on their logos, websites and products, include queer people in their advertising, and deluge reporters and editors with pitches about their 30-day commitment to the community.

Freelance writer Jeff Taylor of Charlotte, N.C., tweeted a tongue-in-cheek reference to this annual tradition last week:

Some of these corporations even double-dip, donating to anti-LGBTQ+ causes as well, as I have reported. Ellis took note of the significant role businesses play in society in GLAAD’s announcement Tuesday.

“Corporations have a growing influence, and also a growing responsibility,” said Ellis. The business community’s support for key moments in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality, including marriage equality in the U.S., and for increased LGBTQ+ inclusion in many workplace policies was critical to advancing those issues, but as Pride marketing campaigns begin, we need to remind corporates what true allyship is all about.“

GLAAD’s Recommendations for Corporate Allies include best practices for brands’ work during June and beyond. Among the principles:

• Don’t market to the moment, join the movement: Give back to LGBTQ+ advocacy and direct service non-profits. Involve LGBTQ+ employees in dediding the causes and organizations to support and include state and local organizations, as well as non-profit organizations led by and serving transgender people and LGBTQ+ people of color.
• Extend support to the political fight. True corporate allies do not donate to candidates or elected officials who introduce, vote yes, or otherwise support anti-LBGTQ+ legislation or block passage of pro-LGBTQ+ legislation like the Equality Act. Develop criteria to vet elected officials and political donations by evaluating candidate platforms and LGBTQ+ voting records.
• Feature more LGBTQ+ talent and community members in external mainstream and community specific campaigns and programming. Compensate LGBTQ+ talent for appearances, panels, both internal and external facing at corporate events or panels and for promotion of your LGBTQ+ inclusivity campaigns.
• Use your company’s leverage and internal resources, including social media, marketing, public relations and government affairs office, to speak out against local and national anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and engage other businesses to do the same. Speak out and support pro-LGBTQ+ legislation when proposed.
• Support the notion of Pride 365 and plan LGBTQ+ inclusive campaigns and support for the community year-round, not just during Pride Month.

These recommendations come at a dire time for this community, particularly transgender Americans.

“As our community faces unprecedented attacks, more than 200 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced this year and LGBTQ+ youth are in a mental health crisis, corporate allyship can have a real impact and is more important than ever,” Ellis said.

Around the world, organizations hold marches, rallies and parades throughout Pride month, and in many cases, at other times of the year, such as Orlando’s annual Come Out With Pride event in October, which in 2021 included the National Trans Visibility March. New York City traditionally hosts the largest Pride March in the U.S., organized by Heritage of Pride. However, in 2019, a splinter group of activists held their own counter march that drew tens of thousands to the streets of Manhattan. They marched in protest of corporate sponsorship of floats that displaced everyday people, and the inclusion of politicians and uniformed, armed police.

An estimated 50-thousand people took part in the march that banned police, politicians and corporations from participating, starting at the Stonewall National Monument, up Sixth Avenue ending with a rally at the Great Lawn in Central Park. In response to Reclaim Pride Coalition’s Queer Liberation March, Heritage of Pride leadership voted last year to also ban uniformed, armed police officers from marching as a group, a decision that in turn sparked a new controversy.

What they did not do, however, is turn away any corporations, who hand over large sums of money to be included among the marchers. In issuing these recommendations, GLAAD cautions business leaders to devote their budgets to other important endeavors beyond Pride Month. One idea is to include LGBTQ+ people and families in holiday advertising such as Mother’s and Father’s Day and other moments of recognition like Black History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islanders Month and more.

Other recommendations from GLAAD:

• Seek out Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) training, including LGBTQ+ specific workshops, for yourself and your employees, through resources like the GLAAD Media Institute.
• Commit to employee recruitment initiatives that include the LGBTQ+ community, including outreach to transgender people and LGBTQ+ people of color.
• Use meetings with your LGBTQ+ ERG to learn what LGBTQ+ issues are arising where your company does business and to help form strategic responses with support from external LGBTQ+ experts and consultants.
• Tell authentic and accurate LGBTQ+ stories, spotlighting LGBTQ+ people and issues year-round on social media, in editorial and in internal communications, with consideration for how these stories enter into a cultural context and conversation.

“The journey to true allyship for LGBTQ+ people is not always easy, but it is always important,” said Ellis. “We look forward to seeing more and more corporations step up their game and put GLAAD’s Recommendations for Corporate Allies to good use.”

Read more about GLAAD and its mission by clicking here.