# Celebrating Pride Month at Your Workplace 🌈

June is Pride Month! While your employees should feel empowered to be true to themselves in the workplace with full acceptance year-round, you can host events this month around Pride to celebrate love in all forms. Celebrating Pride Month will help foster a supportive environment at work and emphasize your workplace’s commitment to inclusion and diversity.

For this month-long celebration of the LGBTQ+ community, our team at Epoch has put together a few event ideas for your workplace!

### Help Organizations that Support the LGBTQ+ Community 👏🏻
- A great way to not only celebrate, but also give to the LGBTQ+ community is to come together and volunteer at a local LGBTQ+ non-profit organization. Encourage your employees to contribute to their community by scheduling a day for volunteering.
- There are numerous [LGBTQ+ nonprofits in the Bay Area](https://www.turnout.org/lgbtq-nonprofits-san-francisco-bay-area), such as the [SF LGBT Center](https://www.sfcenter.org/program/volunteering/) and [Gay for Good](https://gayforgood.org/).

### Empower and Educate Your Team’s LGBTQ+ Allies 💡
- Encourage allyship at your workplace by organizing educational workshops for your team to learn more about supporting the LGBTQ+ community. These can be held in-person, or virtually to reach a wider audience across your global workplace.
- Bring in [guest speakers](https://www.nsb.com/lgbtq-speakers/) educated in topics such as Parenting Talks for Pride or LGBTQ+ Allyship & Inclusion in the Workplace.

### Host a Rainbow-Themed Dinner 🥗
- Nothing brings people together better than food! Rally your team for a rainbow-themed potluck and have employees sign up to bring their own [colorful food items](https://parade.com/1222443/kavitharamaswamy/best-rainbow-themed-recipes-for-pride/). For those who are less culinary-inclined, bringing a fruit platter is always a safe option.
- Does your team have an outdoor space? Consider taking out the grill for a barbecue to enjoy the warm summer weather in June.

### Tie-Dye Team Bonding 🌈
- This family-friendly event will allow for a great team bonding opportunity! Unlike a typical arts & crafts activity, tie-dyeing requires participants to get their hands messier than usual.
- Tie-dyeing can be done in-person or [virtually](https://www.withconfetti.com/product/virtual-tie-dye-workshop) from the comforts of home. Employees can choose their own clothing of choice to bring, such as t-shirts and tank tops, and can also bring extra clothes to dye for their family members or friends.

### Taste the Rain-dough 🌈
- Arrange an in-person or virtual baking class for a great team bonding experience. Fun ideas include learning how to bake a [gluten-free rainbow cake](https://flippindelicious.com/2015/03/gluten-free-rainbow-layer-cake.html), [vegan rainbow chocolate chip cookies](https://vegarecepten.com/en/rainbow-chocolate-chip-cookies-recipe/), or even [rainbow bagels](https://www.withconfetti.com/product/virtual-rainbow-bagel-making-class)! Before hosting the event, send out a survey to collect participants’ dietary restrictions in order to accommodate the entire team, as well as an open form for participants to send in any of their own recipes.
- Provide participants with the necessary ingredients for an in-person class or send out gift cards ahead of time for those who are participating virtually to purchase their own ingredients.

### Celebrate LGBTQ+ Stories in Literature 📚
- Host a hybrid-friendly Book Club meeting with your team and choose a novel starring LGBTQ+ voices for members to read and discuss. Being exposed to more diverse stories is important to increase empathy and push back against bias and prejudice.
- Check out [this list of LGBTQ+ Pride Books](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/the-read-down/the-ultimate-book-list-for-pride-month/) ranging from inspirational memoirs to heartwarming novels about love for all.

### Watch LGBTQ+ Characters on the Big Screen 🎞
- In recent years, LGBTQ+ individuals have had more representation in Hollywood and mainstream cinema. Host a [Netflix Party](https://www.teleparty.com/) for your team and consider having multiple screenings to accommodate global teams and time zones.
- Popular selections include the Oscar-winning movies _Call Me By Your Name_ starring Timothee Chalamet and _Moonlight_. You can find more [LGBTQ+ films on Netflix on this list](https://www.lifewire.com/best-lgbt-movies-on-netflix-right-now-5069913).