Why It’s Important for Businesses to Acknowledge Pride Month
Pride Month is celebrated every year during the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. This event was a tipping point in the fight to secure equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community.
Gay bars were illegal at the time and there were very few establishments that accepted openly gay people. One such bar, The Stonewall Inn in Manhattan, was raided by police. In the midst of their attempts to arrest employees and patrons, a growing crowd of onlookers decided they had seen enough of the violence and oppression. The situation evolved into a full blown riot, surprising and overwhelming the police who had never experienced such an upheaval from the gay community.
Within two years of the riots, the number of LGBTQ+ rights organizations skyrocketed. There were suddenly gay rights groups all over the US, Canada, Australia, and Western Europe. The rioters’ defiance in the face of oppression showed the world that the gay community had a voice, and they were not going to hide in shame any longer.
Today, support for LGBTQ+ pride is more widespread than ever. Related celebrations, parades, concerts, and other events attract millions of participants around the globe.
Companies & Businesses Have Visibility
Bigger organizations have louder voices and their messaging sees broader exposure. Staying out of divisive social issues was once the norm in society. There was no expectation for a company to take any particular stance but this silence allowed a culture of exclusion and bigotry to spread unopposed. Everything from discriminatory hiring practices to outright refusing to serve certain customers was fair game.
Companies and businesses turned a blind eye to these issues for many years, preferring to say it wasn’t their issue to solve. This created a culture of exclusion. It took decades of slow progress for companies to realize this, but many have turned things around.
As more companies celebrate and participate in pride events, it puts pressure on the entire ecosystem to do better. Businesses feel the pressure to assure their customer base and hiring pool that they too are an ally to LGBTQ+ community.
Growing Pride at The Garden
Our community in Alexandria remembers the courage displayed at the Stonewall Inn and the defiance in the face of intolerance and bigotry. Members of the LGBTQ+ community are woven into our culture and they deserve equal benefits and representation in society. Pride flags were recently ripped down from our own city hall and thrown into a fountain. Petty acts of cowardice do nothing to dampen the community’s resolve.
The Garden, Alexandria Makers Market, and Safe Space NOVA partnered together to create the inaugural Growing Pride at The Garden, Alexandria’s biggest Pride event!
The community came together in our spacious event space on Eisenhower Avenue for a family friendly celebration featuring 15 local LGBTQ+ makers and allies. The event was inside the event space, the state-of-the-art workshop, and outside on the patio. Local food trucks, live music, and kids crafting were available throughout the event. Did you miss Growing Pride? Mark your calendars for June 26th, 2022 and show off your colors when we host the 2nd Annual Growing Pride at The Garden!