PRIDE Month: Being an Ally at Work and Home

Police brutality, protests, social unrest. Just as these are part of the today’s cultural fabric, so too were they back in June of 1969. That is when New York’s LGBTQIA+ community began to fight back and catapult the gay rights movement into the mainstream. Fifty-one years later, full equality for the LGBTQIA+ community is still not a reality. However, we can celebrate this week’s Supreme Court ruling that existing federal law forbids job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or transgender status.

I am proud to be an executive at a company like Lockheed Martin that is committed to equality for its LGBTQIA+ employees. For the past 12 consecutive years, the company has achieved a perfect score of 100 percent on the Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a national benchmarking survey administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation to measure corporate policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) workplace inclusion. 

As a Lockheed Martin executive, I have been privileged to participate in the Lockheed Martin PRIDE Employee/Business Resource Group (ERG/BRG) Leadership Forums, join my colleagues at the annual PRIDE Parade in Washington D.C. each June and for the first-time last year, the 5K run (need to improve my time 😃). I have listened intently to PRIDE members share with me that they’ve often received more support from their co-workers than from their family members. I am proud that our team members are providing this support and comfort. On a personal note, as a father of a son who is gay, it is heartbreaking to hear, during their time of greatest need, their family has not been there for them in the way they’ve needed them. My affiliation with PRIDE, and its wonderful and talented members, has made me a more thoughtful leader, a more compassionate person, and more importantly, a better father. Thank you.

Three tips for being an ally in the workplace:

1. Review language that is used in hiring and internal documents, social media, websites, etc. and make sure that it uses inclusive language.
2. Ask members of your ERG/BRG to share their stories and experiences for internal/external communications, as well as social media.
3. Wear a pin or have a rainbow flag in your office signifying support for the community. If you are still working from home, consider having a small rainbow flag that is visible when on virtual conference calls.

Now more than ever, unity is needed. This past weekend the intersectionality of diversity and inclusion was made visible as thousands of demonstrators converged in Hollywood denouncing racial injustice and supporting LGBTQ rights. Just as non-LGBTQIA+ bystanders took action in solidarity with the community back in New York in 1969, we are seeing the importance of allyship today. Unity, empathy, and action will get us all through these turbulent times.