A lot has changed in our workplaces in the past year. The importance of diversity, equity and inclusion hasn’t gone anywhere. And neither has the joy and power of recognizing the full value of every team member. In this article, we’ll explore ways to celebrate your LGBTQ+ employees during Pride Month 2025.
What is Pride Month?
Pride Month is celebrated every June worldwide to honor LGBTQ+ communities. The acronym stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and additional sexual orientations and gender expressions. It’s often expanded to LGBTQIA+, which includes intersex, asexual, and other identities.
Pride commemorates a pivotal moment in queer history, the Stonewall Uprising. This event happened in Manhattan in June 1969. During this six-day protest, LGBTQ+ individuals stood up against police discrimination, marking a turning point in the fight for equality.
Why is it important to celebrate Pride in the workplace?
Pride celebrations attract millions of participants each year as queer communities and allies honor the queer identity through parades, workshops, parties, picnics, lectures, concerts, and more.
You don’t have to identify as LGBTQ+ to participate—Pride is for everyone, even if you're straight, questioning, or exploring your identity.
By celebrating Pride at work, you’re creating an environment where everyone feels seen, valued, and respected. Inclusive practices like this affirm the identities of LGBTQ+ employees and demonstrate allyship, ultimately enhancing the sense of belonging across the organization.
Ways you can celebrate Pride Month at your workplace
Whether remote or onsite, celebrating Pride creates a workplace where all employees feel connected and safe.
Here’s a sample of ideas for celebrating Pride at your workplace inspired by how we celebrate at WorkTango. Which one(s) will you incorporate for your team?
1. Get educated
Effective leadership starts with understanding the journey. While it’s critical to offer educational opportunities to your employees, it’s equally as important to take the time to familiarize yourself with the history of Pride and the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Gaining a deeper understanding of its significance will better equip you to guide your employees through meaningful conversations and initiatives.
2. Start a pool to donate to LGBTQ+ causes or charities
Research shows that workplace rewards are more impactful when they align with employees’ values and beliefs. If your employee rewards marketplace doesn’t already offer a way for employees to donate their earned rewards to charities, now’s the time to get started! Some great queer organizations to support include PFLAG, the Transgender Law Center, and the Human Rights Campaign. You can also explore local nonprofits that focus on LGBTQ+ advocacy and support.
3. Order fun swag
You can’t celebrate Pride without some great swag! Consider investing in Pride-themed merchandise like pins, T-shirts, and hats. Don’t just stop at rainbow designs—explore items that represent the full spectrum of identities, from bisexual, demisexual, and asexual flags to transgender and intersex symbols. Offering diverse and meaningful swag helps make your celebration more inclusive.
4. Update your company email signatures
Add your pronouns to your email signature, along with a statement like, “I am an ally of the LGBTQ+ community.” Incentivize and encourage your employees to do the same.
Pro tip: Pronouns reflect how you identify—such as he/him, she/her, or they/them—and how you prefer others to refer to you. This simple, inclusive practice benefits everyone, whether you're cisgender or not!
5. Switch up your Zoom background
Whether you love them or not, Zoom calls are a part of our work life. Celebrate Pride by updating your background throughout June! Workplace advocacy group Out & Equal has assembled a great collection, including Pride parades and affirming messages, that you can access here.
6. Incentivize Pride celebrations
Encourage employees to update company social media profiles with Pride frames or filters. Be sure to provide tips and resources on how to do so. But keep in mind that it’s important to always respect your employees' work-life balance, so you should never require them to alter their personal social media for work. You can instead incentivize participation by offering rewards or recognition through your rewards platform.
Offer Recognition & Rewards platform points to employees who:
- Post a Pride swag selfie
- Attend a company-sponsored Pride event
- Add their pronouns or ally message to their email signature
- Support an LGBTQ+ business
- Support an LGBTQ+ non-profit organization
- Update their email signatures for Pride
- Post or update their social media to align with Pride
7. Fill up your company calendar
Whether your workplace is in-office, remote, or hybrid, there are plenty of opportunities to celebrate DE&I throughout the year. At WorkTango, our People & Culture team organizes various remote culture events year-round.
June is especially active as we honor diverse voices, commemorate Juneteenth, and educate ourselves on the perspectives and experiences to strengthen our colleagues and organization.
8. Be Inclusive! Explore LGBTQ+ Family Building
WorkTango hosted a webinar discussing paths to parenthood for members of the LGBTQ+ community. This was a great opportunity for experts to share insights and answer questions on pregnancy, IVF, adoption, surrogacy, how to find inclusive medical providers and clinics, and so much more. (Maven Moments provides free, 24/7 access to doctors, specialists, and coaches for fertility and preconception, pregnancy, postpartum, adoption, surrogacy, and early pediatrics, with support for parents of children up to 10 years old).
9. WorkTango Voices on Pride Round Table
We’re all privileged to work daily with talented colleagues from various backgrounds and experiences. That’s why we host a ‘Voices’ event celebrating Pride Month, a safe space where our peers share their lived experiences and candidly answer questions in a round table panel-style discussion. Panelists were chosen based on people who were open to sharing their stories. What do people want to know? Are there any questions about Pride? Are there any individuals curious but too shy to ask a question during the live forum or uncertain how to phrase a delicate question? No worries. Solicit questions in advance like we did.
10. Start Listening to Employee Voices
What could be a better time than Pride Month to run a company-wide DE&I and Culture survey? Measure the degree to which your company culture creates a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment where people of all backgrounds can thrive.
11. Drag-Inspired Celebrations
We like to fill June with educational and fun ways to celebrate Pride. In previous years, we’ve done multiple team-building events, including a virtual Drag show and a virtual Drinks & Drag event. Leveraging tools that offer curated experiences can make it easier to create meaningful, inclusive celebrations, especially when your company is dispersed or remote. Check out Confetti's Drag Queen Bingo or Drag Queen Trivia to bring an engaging and inclusive Pride Month experience to your team.
12. Get Your PRIDE TRIVIA Game On!
Another educational and fun event is Pride Trivia Zoom-style. We stepped up the competitive vibe by offering platform prizes for first-, second-, and third-place winners.
13. Virtual Pride Parade
This year, we were thrilled to host our first-ever virtual Pride parade, celebrating the diversity and resilience of the LGBTQ+ community. Participants enjoyed virtual “floats,” had the chance to dress up, learned about the history of the LGBTQ+ movement, and expressed their pride.
The virtual format allowed everyone to participate, regardless of location, ensuring an inclusive and joyous celebration of love and identity.
14. Volunteer
We wanted an opportunity to have in-person team-building experiences and to give back to the communities where our employees live and where our offices are located. The intention for a dedicated volunteer day is to get groups together to pitch in at a local organization centered around LQBTQ+ in Toronto, Austin, and Chicago. Folks in cities and towns beyond these are encouraged to shape their volunteer outing and share their experiences with us.
15. Bake and Bask
Challenge your foodie folks to showcase their culinary creativity. Here’s a photo posted to our company Slack channel of a cake created by one of our talented Tangoneers, an inspired masterpiece.
16. Last, but not least, be an ally
During the month of June, as well as every other month, there are many ways to continue to educate and support others as part of the LGBTQ+ community and as allies:- Support LGBTQ+ businesses
- Educate yourself
- Don’t treat straight and cisgender as the norm
- Don’t stereotype
- Don’t refer to them as ‘my LGBTQ+ friend’
- Be inclusive
- Speak up
- Offer to inform other friends and family
- Be vocal about your allyship
- Use the right pronouns
- Don’t ascribe heteronormative roles
- Don’t question their identity
- Understand that gender and sexuality is a journey
- Don’t invalidate their experiences
- Attend community events
- Take a stand with your dollars
- Don’t ask intrusive questions
