Reimagine Inclusion

MYTH 10No One Can Question Our Support of the LGBTQ+ Community. Look at How Much Money We Invest in June Pride Month! We Aren't Diversity Washers.

“No one can question our support of the LGBTQ+ community,” a former leader shouted at me. “Look at how much money we invest in June Pride Month!”

This was after I presented a proposal to him and other leaders with inputs from our PRIDE Employee Resource Group (ERG) on the ways in which the company could have more inclusive benefits. The proposal included additional financial support for adoption and surrogacy, health care coverage for gender affirmation surgery, and most importantly, ensuring health care benefits to domestic partners of employees. One of the brands showed lavish external support of June Pride Month, including hosting pricey external events during the month of June and participating in a local Pride parade with an extravagant float. This raised questions for the members of our LGBTQ+ community on what the company overall was doing to support the internal community.

“Well, the members of the ERG feel that is rainbow washing, a form of diversity washing. They feel we could re‐invest those dollars into more meaningful efforts for our employees. And that we …”

“Why are we even talking about this?” He interrupted me, growing more irritated. “What happened to the proposal I asked you about? Launching one of our products with the rainbow flavor? Just like Doritos did, that's what we should be focusing on. We need to capitalize ...