Celebrating Pride in the Workplace

History of Pride Month

Each June, LGBTQ+ communities around the world celebrate Pride Month. June was chosen because it is the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, a major event in LGBTQ+ history and the fight for equal rights.  Today, Pride is associated with parades and parties, but Pride gatherings haven’t always been a celebration.  

“The earliest iterations of Pride, from 1970 to the mid-1990s, were bold displays of the courage it took to be gay in the face of a society that didn’t care to understand queerness. The first days of Pride were jubilant showcases of resistance, rebellion, and radical self-expression. They were direct actions against oppression,” as shared in Medium’s The Bold Italic newsletter. 

It’s incredibly important that we are now able to celebrate the hard-won freedoms enjoyed by members of the LGBTQ+ community, but also important to reflect on what we are celebrating — the freedom to be you.  

Pride in the workplace

Imagine coming to work on Monday. “What did you do over the weekend?” asks your coworker. The true answer is that you spent it doing mundane but fun errands and chores with your partner. But you’re not “out” at work, and you’re afraid of being judged. “I spent time with friends,” you respond, censoring yourself to protect yourself. After all, family counts as friends, right?

We have very impactful work to do in our jobs, and to do our best work, we don’t need distractions – such as worrying about saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. When you feel free to bring your whole self to work, I believe you’re going to bring your BEST self to work — and that’s what our customers and patients need from us.

For me, I feel it’s imperative that we celebrate Pride Month at work— to celebrate the beautiful diversity that makes us a community, and to celebrate the freedom we have to be our true selves in the workplace. Over my career, I have not always felt free to be my authentic self with my coworkers, but thankfully, I don't worry about this today, and I truly believe this has played a role in my personal career successes.

Proud to be me

I joined Emergent BioSolutions in 2022 as Director of Quality Systems at the Baltimore Camden facility.  Camden is in an exciting time of change — over the past year, looked at every aspect of our CDMO facility with the intent of making our processes more compliant and more efficient. I am delighted to help lead this compliance effort and am eager to see to what we will achieve in the future. I have also had the great pleasure to participate in my former employer's LGBTQ+ employee resource group (ERG) and I am looking forward to partnering with Emergent's HR team to build a similar community to support and inspire LGBTQ+ colleagues and allies at Emergent, knowing this group will enhance what we can accomplish together! #WeGo #pridemonth

Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, cooking, and exploring hiking trails with my wife, Jennifer.