5 Things / Pride Paradox

Big news! My weekly LinkedIn Live show, 5 Things in 15 Minutes, is now a podcast! That means that you can catch me and Darnell Adams talking about this week’s 5 Things 👇. All you have to do is subscribe to 5 Things in 15 Minutes on your favorite podcast platform and I’ll bring some good vibes in DEI to start your work week off right.

Happy Pride! I’m going to be honest here…to me, life as a gay person in America right now feels like whiplash. On one hand, we’re seeing rainbow everything and everywhere this year – from products at IKEA and Target to tweets like this from the Marines. It’s so extreme that I’ve seen posts decrying the commodification of pride. They’re not wrong. And also, I really love rainbows.

On the other hand, there have been ~240 anti-LGBTQ bills and laws (most of which target transgender youth) throughout the U.S in the past year. Hate crimes are rising, especially against Black transgender women. LGBTQ+ youth are struggling.

It’s still a very hard time to be LGBTQ+ in the world. Let’s not forget that while we celebrate. Let’s make sure we remember that the "community" is massively diverse, but it might be harder for those with multiple marginalized identities to be out (~50% of us aren't out at work).

Amplify a variety of our voices, not just those like mine. Don't get me wrong...I like it when you amplify my voice, but remember, I'm a boring suburban lesbian mom and I don't represent the diversity of this "community." Here are a few other queer voices and perspectives I enjoy listening to and learning from. I hope you do, too: Madison Butler Beck Bailey Rex Wilde Ashley T Brundage Dr. Tiffany Jana Rhodes Perry, MPA (he/him).

Here are the good vibes I found this week:

  1. Unilever Is Skipping Rainbow Merchandise & Pride Floats. They’d Rather Make an Actual Difference

  2. Members of Ukraine’s LGBTQ Community Who Sign Up for the War Have Taken to Sewing the Image of the Mythical Beast Into Their Uniforms Just Below the National Flag

  3. Shonda Rhimes Launches Two New DEI Initiatives With Netflix

  4. Virgin Atlantic Makes History With New Change to Employee Dress Code

  5. Slack Will Teach Your Co-workers How to Pronounce Your Name

Listen here:

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