LGBTQ+ advocates: Pride should be celebrated year-round

As corporations and small businesses raise the Pride flag at storefronts this month, local advocates say executives should embrace their inclusivity efforts throughout the year. 

Companies and international cities celebrate Pride every year in June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, a watershed series of clashes between New York City’s gay community and the police.

The annual Pride event commemorates the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) activism and rights movement. Although the world has progressed in many aspects of accepting the community as a valuable part of society, the fight for certain rights and visibility is long from over. 

“A rainbow Pride logo [or flag] is great, but really recognizing the community is what’s important,” Rogelio Capote, senior vice president and marketing and communications chief at CAN Community Health, said last week during the Tampa Bay LGBT’s Business in Pride Luncheon. 

The Tampa Bay LGBT Chamber’s Pride in Business panelists (left to right): Chamber President Justice Gennari (serving as the moderator); Rogelio Capote, senior vice president and marketing and communications chief at CAN Community Health; Bemetra Simmons, president and CEO of the Tampa Bay Partnership; Cynthia Colon, GTE Financial assistant vice president of multicultural and inclusion strategy; and Chief Deputy Donna Lusczynski of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. All photos: Veronica Brezina.

Inside the Bryan Glazer JCC in Tampa, over 350 guests and a panel of community leaders gathered to share experiences and approaches on how to better diversify the economy and impact vulnerable communities such as the LGBTQ+ population beyond the 30 days. 

The Chamber represents over 600 businesses, community groups and individuals in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Manatee, Sarasota, Polk and Hernando counties with the mission of advancing equality in the workplace for allied businesses by providing networking and community engagement.

Capote was among the panelists discussing initiatives and tactics for how businesses can demonstrate their support and embrace the LGBTQ+ community. 

The other speakers included: 

• Cynthia Colon, GTE Financial assistant vice president of multicultural inclusion strategy
• Bemetra Simmons, president and CEO of the Tampa Bay Partnership
• Police Chief Deputy Donna Lusczynski of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office

Tampa Bay LGBT Chamber President Justice Gennari moderated the panel. 

Hundreds of attendees joined the Tampa Bay LGBT’s Pride in Business Luncheon event in Tampa.

A highlight of the talking points: The responses have been edited for clarity. 

Progressive changes in the workforce 

Simmons: In corporate America in the ’90s, there was no acknowledgment of inclusivity. People all looked and talked the same; there was no individuality. Corporations are now leaning into the idea that diversity should be celebrated – not just tolerated. 

Lusczynski: Most people don’t think of the Sheriff’s Office as a large employer, but we have almost 4,000 employees. When I started here 30 years ago, there was a stigma, but we’ve progressed over the years and implemented policies to make the community feel more comfortable. We have an LGBT Liaison. If someone is a victim of a crime and they don’t feel safe coming to the police, we want to fix that. 

Gennari noted that in 2018, Sheriff Chad Chronister made history as the first Hillsborough County Sheriff to join the Tampa Pride Parade. 

Celebrating beyond the month of June and creating economic impact

Capote: Businesseses that recognize the LGBT community and celebrate them will see a much more productive work environment with a happy staff and happy clients, that’s one of the things that is missed by only celebrating Pride once a year. 

Simmons: You want your business to look like the community you serve. The best ideas are made when people with different backgrounds and experiences come together in a room to find a solution. If you have the same experiences and thought processes as everyone else, you will not find a new solution. When businesses are looking to expand, they want a welcoming environment beyond the four walls of an office. With the Tampa Bay Chamber, we saw our board was stale, pale and male. We asked how to diversify our members on the board and found we didn’t lack minority businesses in the community, they were just smaller, so we formed an accelerator program with the county to help these businesses with their accounting, finance, insurance and marketing needs. 

Lusczynski: We just want you to be qualified to do the job. It doesn’t matter who you love. 

Colon: People assume companies may pick to work with businesses only because of inclusion. We don’t look at who you are. We look at the quality of your work. I remember moving to Ybor City and connecting with BKN Creative (an LGBT, family-owned and operated full-service boutique marketing agency in Tampa). You need to look at how businesses can contribute to your company versus a label. Give them a chance. 

The affinity groups label 

Lusczynski: Unfortunately, we will still need those [labels]. 

Capote: You should celebrate inclusivity year-round. There’s no reason why you can’t have that conversation about diversity, equity and Inclusion (DEI). I pray for the day we don’t need that and look at as not see these groups as individuals who are different. 

Simmons: You think about business like an athlete – you want to outperform your competitors; you want to be the best in profitability and with your shareholders. We will need affinity groups until we get out that labeled mindset.

Colon: The new generation isn’t only looking at who is offering the best salary. They want to see a company’s inclusive DEI initiatives. It’s important to them to want to be with an organization that supports the community and if you are not doing that, you are going to miss out on having really great talent. They are going to go somewhere else where they can be themselves. I don’t think this [the need for affinity group labels] is going to end until we get it right. 

Gennari said the Chamber’s job board has seen 36,000 in-person and online visitors this year. The chamber receives around 30 calls a month from people inquiring about businesses that are engaged with the LGBTQ+ community and have shared values. 

Keeping up with the fight 

Capote: We need to be the change. If we don’t stop fighting, I don’t want to say we will disappear; but we will fall by the wayside. 

Simmons: The most radical thing you can do is vote and prevent months of protesting. We have to make sure people know we didn’t get here without fighting.

Colon: We are kind of going backward [from our progress]. Let’s keep the conversation going internally and externally.

RELATED: Chamber honors companies supporting LGBTQ+ community