Pride Month 2025 is almost here—it’s about time to start celebrating Pride at work! This month is all about honoring and supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as spreading love and acceptance to all.
Whether you’re a small business or a big company, it’s important to celebrate Pride Month at work. It’s also an excellent time to ensure you’re promoting an accepting and inclusive company culture.
But, are there benefits of celebrating Pride Month at work? What are the best ways to celebrate Pride Month at work to promote diversity and inclusion?
In this guide, we’ll answer these questions and more to help you celebrate Pride at work so you can support your employees, inclusion, and the LGBTQIA+ community.
History and Significance of Pride Month
First, let’s take a closer look at the history and significance of Pride Month, which is celebrated every June in honor of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising.
During this time, acts of homosexuality were illegal—bars or restaurants that identified as part of the LGBT community or served its members risked being shut down.
About the Stonewall Uprising
The Stonewall Uprising took place on June 28th, 1969, when police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City.
The police raid on the Stonewall Inn in 1969 was met with retaliation from patrons, staff members, and other members of the surrounding community. Many of these people were displaced gay men who considered the Stonewall Inn as their only safe haven.
This uprising continued into the morning, at which point police were forced to barricade themselves within the bar and de-escalate the situation.
The First Pride Celebrations
One year after the Stonewall Uprising, the first Pride Week and Pride Parade took place, organized by New York activists. The Pride movement began to spread across the country after just a few years.
In 1999, President Bill Clinton officially declared June to be Gay and Lesbian Pride Month.
What Does LGBTQIA+ Stand For?
LGBTQIA+ is an acronym that aims to represent the full spectrum of sexual orientations and gender identities:
- L – Lesbian: Women who are attracted to other women
- G – Gay: Typically refers to men who are attracted to other men, though sometimes used broadly
- B – Bisexual: Attraction to more than one gender
- T – Transgender: People whose gender identity differs from their sex assigned at birth
- Q – Queer/Questioning: Either a broad term for non-heterosexual and non-cisgender identities or representing those questioning their identity
- I – Intersex: People born with variations in sex characteristics that don’t fit typical binary definitions
- A – Asexual/Aromantic: People who experience little to no sexual or romantic attraction
- + – Inclusivity: Recognizes all other sexual orientations and identities beyond those explicitly listed in the LGBTQIA acronym
What Are the Benefits of Celebrating Pride at Work?
Next, let’s talk a little bit about the benefits of celebrating Pride Month at work. The main reason you should celebrate Pride Month is that it’s the right thing to do.
The LGBTQIA+ community has faced heavy discrimination over the years, and though much progress has been made, the community still deals with many challenges and setbacks. They deserve love and support, and Pride Month is a great way to show that.
Beyond that, there are some business-centric benefits gained by promoting diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. These perks go hand-in-hand with creating a more accepting and welcoming world for all—it’s a win-win!
Larger Talent Pool
Promoting diversity, inclusion, and Pride at work opens you up to a larger talent pool. If your company doesn’t prioritize equality and support for the LGBTQIA+ community, you may miss out on a lot of talented employees who value inclusivity.
On the other hand, if you’re inclusive and promoting diversity, you have access to a much larger talent pool.
More Diverse Skill Sets
Welcoming all people into an inclusive work environment means that you get access to more diverse skill sets and outlooks.
People from diverse social and cultural backgrounds bring unique skills and perspectives, fostering creativity, innovation, and business growth.
Increased Customer Support
Modern consumers place more of an emphasis on a company’s values than in years past. People want to support companies that support causes they care about, such as the LGBTQIA+ community.
For example, did you know that LGBTQIA+ friendly businesses are more profitable? Though your decision to support Pride Month shouldn’t be about profit, it’s still a key benefit.
“Diverse teams perform better. They’re better at problem solving, better at recruitment and retention, and they outperform their industry median,” commented Author and Inclusion Activist Ash Beckham on a recent episode of Team Building Saves the World.
Top 5 Ways To Celebrate Pride at Work
Now that you know the benefits, let’s move on to how to celebrate Pride Month at work. This can be difficult for many people, especially those who aren’t in the LGBTQIA+ community.
After all, finding ways to celebrate Pride Month at work without it coming off as corporate and insincere can be challenging—authenticity is key if you want your Pride Month to be effective.
Here are some Pride event ideas for work to get you started.
1. Create a Safe, Supportive Environment
If you’re a socially conscious company, there’s a good chance you’re already doing this. That said, creating a safe and supportive environment is key for Pride Month. If you haven’t already done this, creating the right environment should be step one.
“Ignoring that diversities of any kind exist and assuming everybody’s the same is a huge mistake,” says Ash.
So, make sure you acknowledge, respect, and celebrate these differences as you celebrate Pride at work!
Implement Anti-Discrimination Policies to Ensure Everyone Feels Safe
Above all else, LGBTQIA+ people deserve to feel safe and welcomed at work—really, though, psychological safety is an essential part of any workplace culture for every group of people.
There are lots of ways to go about this, but anti-discrimination policies and regular check-ins are a good start. Ash Beckham shared a powerful thought on this topic, saying, “What gets measured gets changed.”
We couldn’t agree more—it’s crucial to measure the impact of these efforts to ensure real, lasting change.
You cannot be inclusive and accepting if you tolerate discrimination. Putting a stop to and preventing LGBTQIA+ discrimination should be a top priority.
Implement Language Policies to Ensure Everyone Feels Respected
Another good idea for celebrating Pride at work is to issue inclusive language guidelines. It’s easy for people who aren’t well-versed in LGBTQIA+ language and concepts to say things that may be offensive, hurtful, or insensitive.
Those folks may mean well, but their language can still be damaging. Creating clear guidelines for employees to follow can go a long way in making your workplace a more welcoming and inclusive workplace.
It’s wise to pair these guidelines with training events related to LGBTQIA+ issues and sensitivities. Again, learning and understanding are key. No matter how little or much people know about the LGBTQIA+ community, it’s never a bad idea to learn more.
Training can help you and your employees gain a better understanding of the LGBTQIA+ community, be more sensitive to their struggles, be more supportive, and ultimately make your workplace more accepting.
Find Ways To Get Your Employees Involved
You might consider offering LGBTQIA+ friendly employee resource groups or support networks. This can help give LGBTQIA+ employees more support, as well as show that they are welcomed and supported in their workplace.
Alternatively, consider making diversity and inclusion team building activities part of your regular schedule. There are plenty of events to choose from, so your team can enjoy a fresh and exciting experience every time.
2. Host Pride Month Corporate Activities
The topic of Pride at work may be serious, but it’s supposed to be fun too. You can find tons of Pride Month activities for work, all of which promote diversity and inclusivity. You’ll be supporting your team and having fun at the same time.
These activities are a great way to get everyone involved, participating, learning more, and showing support for their LGBTQIA+ coworkers. For example:
- Game shows are an excellent choice for celebrating Pride at work. You can tailor them to promote awareness, inclusivity, and fun.
- Helping Hands is all about creating care packages for those in need, and you can donate them to local LGBTQIA+ shelters or charities. You’ll bond, promote awareness, and make a difference in the local LGBTQIA+ community.
- The Big Picture is a great exercise for helping teams stay mindful of “seeing the bigger picture” in their professional lives. As in most areas of life, it’s all about communication, collaboration, and pulling together in the same direction.
Those are just a few examples of events and activities you can do for Pride Month.
At TeamBonding, we have a number of events for diversity and inclusivity that are perfect Pride Month ideas for work. So take a moment to look around and find an event that seems like a good fit for you and your team!
3. Promote Visibility and Allies
Promoting visibility and encouraging employees to be allies is another way to celebrate Pride Month at work.
“Everybody has to feel like they belong. And that’s our collective responsibility, not just the leader’s responsibility,” adds Ash.
Here are some ideas:
- Hang Pride flags: Things as simple as hanging Pride flags or symbols in the workplace can go a long way in making your LGBTQIA+ employees feel safe, comfortable, and accepted at work.
- Highlight (and Respect) Pronouns: You can also promote visibility and allyship by encouraging employees to use inclusive pronouns and add their pronouns to things like email signatures.
- Ask for Inclusivity Ideas: Invite your employees to share ways they’d like to see greater inclusivity and diversity in the workplace, in addition to their ideas on how to celebrate Pride Month at work. Anonymous surveys work great for this!
- Partner Up: Consider partnering with LGBTQIA+ organizations and charities. Whether you do an event, a collaboration, or something else, taking the time to support the LGBTQIA+ community shows that you actually care about the community.
- Send a Pride Month Newsletter: Get the whole company involved with making an awesome newsletter for Pride. Invite people—especially your leaders—to share their stories as members and allies of the LGBTQIA+ community to highlight your company’s policies and views.
“It isn’t the responsibility of people that identify with a certain diversity to rectify those changes… We need allies to do that because when allies are doing it, there’s a more altruistic approach. It’s an evolution that we’re doing collectively,” said Ash.
4. Community Engagement
Community engagement is one of the most impactful and direct ways to celebrate Pride at work. Regardless of your city’s size, there’s an LGBTQIA+ community. Directly supporting that community shows your support while making a difference locally.
You could consider attending any local pride events—parades, street fairs, etc—individually while encouraging employees to come out and show their support! You could even consider sponsoring the event or participating in it yourself.
Events like this are also great opportunities to partner with other local businesses for joint initiatives. You could set up an event together, do a donation matching initiative, or do something else to support the LGBTQIA+ community directly.
5. Year-Round Focus On Empathy and Inclusion for All
Remember, Pride Month shouldn’t be the end of your support for the LGBTQIA+ community or focus on inclusivity. While Pride Month is a great time to focus on it, it’s always important.
You might use Pride Month as a starting point to make your corporate culture more accepting, inclusive, and empathetic.
“Empathy is the biggest thing we can possibly do. We have to start with the perception that people are not stupid and they’re not jerks,” comments Ash.
Analyze and Improve
It’s a good time to analyze and assess the impact of your inclusivity efforts, collect feedback from employees, and implement changes and improvements based on that feedback.
Many companies express support for the LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month but abandon their initiatives come July. The same thing tends to happen with Black History Month and Women’s History Month.
Set your company apart from the rest—never stop focusing on inclusivity! Make sure you’re always working on creating a diverse, accepting, and supportive workplace. Show that your business genuinely cares about the LGBTQIA+ community year-round.
Companies That Celebrate Pride Month at Work
Before wrapping up, let’s take a quick look at a couple of companies that go beyond the rainbow logos and celebrate Pride Month right.
Lush
The cosmetic company Lush is a great example of Pride Month done well by a company.
Lush does numerous things to celebrate and show their support. Outside of obvious things like releasing pride-centered products, they have a section of their website dedicated to the various causes they support, including the LGBTQIA+ community.
They include stories from LGBTQIA+ activists, community members, resources, and much more. They also host pride events and donate considerably to LGBTQIA+ charities.
Yankee Candle
Another example is Yankee Candle. They are keeping things relatively simple by launching a line of Pride-themed candles, the proceeds of which will be donated to a charity that helps LGBTQIA+ people escape from harmful situations.
Yankee Candle may not be the loudest when it comes to Pride Month, but actions often speak louder than words.
Adidas
Adidas has a long history of supporting the LGBTQIA+ community and celebrating Pride Month.
Their Love Unites collection features rainbow-colored apparel and footwear, and they actively support organizations that advocate for inclusion in sports and human rights defense.
source: Adidas
Adidas has a long history of supporting the LGBTQIA+ community and celebrating Pride Month. Their Love Unites collection features rainbow-colored apparel and footwear, and they actively support organizations that advocate for inclusion in sports and human rights defense.
Celebrate Pride Month and Support the LGBTQIA+ Community
This June, make an effort to celebrate Pride Month and support the LGBTQIA+ community.
You can celebrate Pride Month and show your continued support by:
- Creating a supportive workplace
- Hosting events focused on awareness and inclusion
- Promoting visibility and allyship
- Encouraging community engagement
- Continually working towards a more accepting culture
If you need help celebrating Pride Month, look no further than TeamBonding. We’re an LGBTQIA+ friendly company with a wide selection of events that can be tailored to your Pride Month celebrations.
Ready to start planning your best Pride yet? Get in touch with us and make this Pride Month one to remember.
