Epoch | Employee Events to Celebrate Pride 🏳️‍🌈

Employee Events to Celebrate Pride 🏳️‍🌈

The month of June is globally known and celebrated as Pride month. 🌈

This month-long theme originated in the United States, but now in present-day countries all over the world run Pride events and parades annually. Pride month is celebrated in June as it pays tribute to those who were involved in the Stonewall riots on June 28, 1969. The first official Pride Parade took place in New York, 1970.

Pride month is a time where everyone can celebrate and embrace who they are and let the rainbow flags fly high. We have put together some ideas for you of employee events that you can host for your team to celebrate Pride all month long!

TLDR: There are many possibilities and opportunities for your team to celebrate pride both virtually and in-person (only if restrictions are lifted in your area). Some best practices are to support your existing ERGs to create their own events or host a fireside chat. Use this opportunity for team members to educate other employees and even share their own experiences.

You can also host engaging Pride-themed events, like a game night over a video stream platform so everyone can join in safely from the comfort of their own home. Offer a kids-friendly storytime event and then host a movie night for the employees to enjoy (all while keeping a Pride theme).

For some offline and asynchronous ideas, and for those who want to participate on their own time, provide them with a list of organizations to support or host Slack challenges where employees can engage whenever they wish. Of course, there always are Pride parades, but they may look a little different this year depending on your local Covid guidelines.

Support Your Team’s LGBTQ+ ERGs 🌟

• With June being such a big month for your LGBTQ+ ERGs and Pride events, it’s the perfect opportunity to empower these groups to host and create their own events. Bring your event planning expertise to the table and offer them the support and tools to bring their ideas to life. Since Pride is all month long, there is room for multiple events throughout June, and some can even be recurring to accommodate busy schedules and time zones.
• If your ERGs plan to organize Pride events themselves, they may need to brush up on their event planning skills, you can refer them to Epoch’s Event Planning Playbook. It offers a full step-by-step walkthrough for them to go through independently and takes some pressure off of you if you are busy with other events!

Host a Fireside Chat 🔥

• Gather some guest speakers or even some members of your team’s LGBTQ+ ERG to lead a fireside chat for your team. The fireside chat could range from being educational, hearing personal stories, or even a Q&A session on current events and issues happening on a global scale. Regardless of the format of the fireside chat, it will be a great opportunity to bring individuals together and start the conversation.
• Ensure that you are creating a safe space for individuals to be able to comfortably come to the event and participate in the discussion. Allow individuals to also be able to send in questions or topic ideas to the guest speakers anonymously.

Run a Pride Themed Game Night 🎲

• To keep the upbeat vibe of Pride all month long, you can host recurring game nights that are low-life but super engaging for all employees. There are many platforms and organizations that do all the planning for your game nights to offer plug-and-play options for you.
• Trivia nights are also a great idea for a game night as they are both fun and educational for your team. Have your LGBTQ+ ERG run the trivia night and add in many questions to educate those who may not be familiar with the history of Pride month.
• It’s always a good idea to offer prizes for the winners to also entice more people to attend the event and participate.

Idea: Drag Queen Bingo is a perfect event idea to celebrate Pride in June and to involve the entire team! Offer fun prizes for your employees to win and find an organization to successfully lead the Bingo Night. Drag Queen Entertainment offers and organizes a fun and upbeat virtual Drag Queen Bingo Night for your team.

Drag Queen Storytime (for kids) 📚

• If you are looking to plan a pride-themed event for kids, opt-in for a Drag Queen Storytime for kids. Invite the kids of the working parents on your team for this special read-along event. If the parents want to stick around it can be an event for the whole family or one just for the kids to attend to give their busy parents a little break while working from home.

Idea: Drag Queen Story Hour is a kid-friendly program where Drag Queens read stories for them. It is an organization that celebrates diversity and encourages children to look beyond gender stereotypes. They also have live stream options to support virtual events.

Movie Night 🎥

• Host a virtual movie night for your team and choose movies that match the theme of Pride. Host multiple screening times to accommodate global teams and time zones. You can also get employees to watch the movie first on their own time, and then come together over Zoom and have a discussion on the movie.

Idea: Here are some movie recommendations to list a few:

• Call Me by Your Name
• A Secret Love
• Brokeback Mountain
• Milk
• The Kids Are Alright
• Love, Simon

Spotlight LGBTQ+ Non-Profits 🤝

• If it is too challenging to plan synchronous events for Pride, especially as many companies are global and/or are in the middle of returning to the office, there are many asynchronous and off-screen options. One of them being supporting LGBTQ+ non-profit organizations. Supporting them could mean donating to their cause, volunteering with the organization virtually, or even simply sharing their posts and messages on social media.
• There are many amazing organizations, like The Trevor Project and the Human Rights Campaign, who are supporting LGBTQ+ communities and ensuring they have important resources available to them.

Feature LGBTQ+ Run Businesses 🛍

• Since many in-person Pride events had to be canceled again this year, another way you can support from your own home is by supporting businesses run by those of the LGBTQ+ community. It has been a tough time for small businesses to operate during the pandemic so supporting small businesses is always a great idea. Order online or do a local curbside pickup to support these businesses not just during Pride month, but all year long.
• Here’s a list of LGBTQ+ owned businesses in the Bay area to support asynchronously during these difficult times.

Best-Dressed Challenge 🌈

• A great way to show your support for pride month is by sporting an amazing rainbow-themed outfit. Since many of us are still continuing to work from home, why not have a best-dressed challenge on Slack? Create a channel dedicated to this challenge where employees can post pictures of their Pride-themed outfits and show their support for the LGBTQ+ community. Don’t forget Pride flags too!

Idea: You could even offer prizes to the top best-dressed employees on your team. Time to start planning out your #PrideOutfit and bring out the whole rainbow of colors!

Pride Parades 🏳️‍🌈

• Pride parades are the classic way to celebrate Pride month. The first official Pride parade took place in New York, 1970. Today, Pride parades take place all over the world. These outdoor celebrations bring communities together and fill cities with rainbow colors.
• COVID-19 has definitely brought challenges and obstacles to celebrating Pride this year, especially as it has prevented most in-person parades from happening. This June as some locations are slowly opening up with COVID-19 restrictions lifted, remember to celebrate pride safely and always follow your local guidelines for in-person activities.