PRIDE Always

Being the most educated, tech savvy, globally-connected and aware generations, Millennials and Gen Z demand inclusivity and representation that is genuine and honest. So it becomes important for businesses to reflect their support for the LGBTQ+ community within their organisation and by working towards bringing a change in the political, social and economic systems. Just making Pride-celebration posts and rainbow washing a logo or a range of products does not cut it. It's more preferable to have no rainbow-colourfulness than digging out that the organisation has been making donations to LGBT rights opposition.

Last day of the Pride month I want to share some campaigns, products and services I came across during the past 30 days that truly celebrate the spirit of Pride and these organisations, I have fact-checked, don't have the sole purpose of woke washing.

Firstly a couple of homegrown names.

Founded in 2017 by Neelam Jain, PeriFerry is a socially inclusive startup that helps place trans people in organisations that offer them sustainable jobs. It offers free training to the candidates, across various skills like communication in English, computer fundamentals, and etiquette, and grooming. It also conducts sensitisation workshops at the employer's premises to facilitate a safer and more inclusive workforce, and conducts routine follow-ups for at least six months to ensure employee and employer satisfaction.

Launched in June 2020, As You Are (AYA) was founded by Sunali Aggarwal after realising that mainstream dating apps like Delta, Tinder, Grindr and OkCupid did not really meet the needs of the LGBTQ+ community especially in India. AYA keeps in mind the suitability and sensitivity of the users, has a three-level verification protocol to provide a safe platform for users to interact comfortably.

Developed by TIM Brasil in partnership with Virgula Consultoria, TIM Conscious Keyboard is a Portuguese (Brazil) keyboard for mobiles that identify and alerts users about discriminatory words and expressions. In the app's updated version about 500 LGBT-phobic words and phrases were added earlier this month.

Alongside David Madrid, Burger King Spain launched "Pride Riders" and bringing a little Pride parade with the delivery service where Covid-19 restrictions didn't allow one. In cities that can still hold a parade, delivery bikes joined them.

Burger King started supporting the LGBTQ community via its campaigns from the year 2014. Right after the first campaign (where in San Francisco 'Proud Whoppers' were sold. These were similar to regular Whopper burgers except their colourful packaging said 'We Are All The Same Inside'), the company was called out for lack of equality towards LGBTQ employees in its corporate behavior. Months after Burger King worked towards having a better work environment and in 2019 achieved a perfect score of 100 on the HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index.

Below is an example of the extent of influence a corporate can have and the changes it can bring forth. No doubt consumers want companies to leverage their impact for the causes that are important to them.