Celebrating Pride and Equality Throughout the Year

While we’ve seen progress in the movement towards equality and inclusiveness for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ+) community, the fight is far from over. As allies, we must continue to use our voice and show support of the LGBTQ+ community throughout the year, not just for one month.

That’s why I’m excited to share Hitachi Vantara has partnered with the Equality Institute, a boutique diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) firm, to deliver a year-long series of inspirational, engaging, and entertaining workshops to show our employees how we can be more inclusive and supportive of our colleagues, clients, and partners around the world. 

We just hosted our very first event, Voices Carry: Everyone’s Role as Ally in the Workplace, sponsored by our Rainbow Connection employee resource group. In this session, Bernadette Smith, founder and CEO of the Equality Institute, shared how to address the assumptions we make about others and how these assumptions cause us to miss important opportunities to be more connected to our teams and to our clients and partners. 

Some other events to come throughout the next year include:

Blurred Lines: How to Navigate the Fluid Boundaries of Gender

Over the Rainbow: Tools to Be an Authentic LGBTQ Ally

Born This Way: Leverage Your LGBTQ Identity for Workplace Success

I’m excited and hopeful for this event series to empower our employees to show their pride, their support, and their allyship for our colleagues, clients, partners, friends, and families.

We know that pride and courage do not have expiration dates - they should be on display every day, and only through awareness, education, and celebration can we achieve positive, lasting change.