A couple of months ago, I noticed that we, at the Chamber, had not changed our logos to the rainbow logo in solidarity with Pride. We do so every year during June and July in recognition of Pride Month celebrated internationally in June and of Halifax Pride in July. After conversations with the Chamber team, we learned more about rainbow-washing and the true meaning of allyship.
Pride is much more than just rainbows and parades. It’s about celebrating survival, fighting for equal rights, supporting the community, honouring those who paved the way to feeling free and being your authentic self, being accepted and respected, and protecting youth––especially trans youth. That’s why we have supported the Youth Project and will continue to do so to help youth from all races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, abilities and socioeconomic backgrounds find the necessary and beneficial resources.
Learning more about what it means be an ally also made me reflect on the tangible work we do here at the Chamber to actively support the 2SLGBTQ+ community. We are committed to removing systemic barriers and learning and growing as we go. At the beginning of this year, we implemented a new policy to encourage our staff to include their pronouns in email signatures. This small step helps foster safe and open conversations in effort to normalize the practice for everyone, especially trans people, to share their pronouns.
Our new Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Inclusion (DEA&I) policy is also keeping us on track to ensure representation across all of our Chamber efforts. That includes diverse representation on our board of directors; creating a new position to carry out specific outreach for underrepresented groups and engaging communities such as the 2SLGBTQ+ to increase the diversity of our membership; and a holistic representation in all our communication channels and vehicles such as Business Voice magazine. Read this issue’s Pride themed story coinciding with the 2021 Halifax Pride Festival––happening this month.
And lastly, we are committed to DEA&I education and profiling underrepresented speakers through several of our channels. I often consider the Chamber to be a media company because of our reach and platform we enjoy, particularly through our many events. So, we are using our events platform to address real 2SLGBTQ+ issues this coming on October 15 and 16 – Small Business Big Pride with TD.
All year round, and not just during Pride, the Chamber is embracing what makes each of us unique and proud. And we continue doing so by leveraging much- needed important educational content, increasing awareness, and advocating on behalf of those underrepresented groups in all Chamber efforts.
I also look forward to celebrating Pride every other month of the year. Happy Pride, Halifax.
We’re in your corner.
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