Pride and Prejudice
This Pride Month feels quieter than normal. Fewer LinkedIn posts. Fewer flags. Fewer leaders put their names behind the cause.
For those who remember when being openly gay could derail a career entirely, the emergence of Pride as a corporate event is still a mark of extraordinary progress. Imperfectly for some but powerfully for others, it offers organisations a way to say: this is a place where you can belong.
So when that signal fades in a year of DEI backsliding, it prompts a reasonable question: what does that silence mean?
The answer doesn’t lie in branding or PR. It’s about trust.
Corporate Pride efforts have never been perfect. The rainbow lanyards and logos have sometimes felt performative. But the visible manifestations of Pride matter, especially to people watching closely. They offer early-career professionals reassurance that organisations understand them. They remind others that leadership acknowledges structural inclusion, not just individual tolerance.
But this year, some companies are stepping back. Whether due to fear of backlash, shifting political winds or internal debate, this 'Pridehushing' - the quiet dialling down of public-facing support - sends a message that inclusion might be conditional.
That should concern leaders. For reputational reasons, of course, but also for what it implies about their long-term commitment.
Because when inclusion is challenged more directly, it’s the groundwork already laid in the culture of an organisation that will matter. And silence doesn’t build that foundation.
In recent weeks, I’ve spoken with LGBTQ+ professionals who aren’t questioning logos, they’re questioning leadership: if support is this easily withdrawn, what happens when support is really needed?
Their fear is real, as is the logic behind the other questions that stem from this.
If companies retreat from visible support this easily, what happens when workplace inclusion faces further direct challenges? What other business decisions might change? When individual employees face discrimination or harassment, is the organisation really going to stand behind them?
Whether your organisation is doing less publicly this year or not, these are the questions you must be ready to answer. And the only way you can do that is by ensuring your leaders are stepping forward in ways that count, embedding safety and inclusion in day-to-day culture, not just during Pride.
Whether it is for LGBTQ+ colleagues or others, this is something that cannot be left to chance. Managers must be equipped to lead in ways that build genuine inclusion into day-to-day culture, creating space for nuance, reflection and learning, supporting systems and behaviours that sustain equity, not just signalling it.
For individuals and organisations, the embedding of that kind of leadership is the most important action that can build resilience. By making it part of how people lead, inclusion becomes less vulnerable to shifts in public discourse and reliant on how brands communicate.
What Pride continues to teach us is that visibility, when backed by action, creates change. And if the public symbols recede, it’s up to leaders to ensure that commitment to inclusion doesn’t fade with them.
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