Adweek Pride Stars on the Changing Face of LGBTQ Inclusion

This week, Adweek introduced its first-ever award honoring LGBTQ leaders in marketing, brands, media and culture: Adweek Pride Stars. The 15 people chosen for the inaugural Pride Stars honors have different roles in the industry, but each has worked to push forward LGBTQ inclusion, visibility and equality both by being out in the workplace and by consistently making progress in how LGBTQ people are represented in advertising. On the Friday just before Pride weekend, several of the Pride Stars honorees joined special guests to discuss the changing nature of corporate America, and how the combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement have radically changed this year's experience of Pride. [kickout id="11"] The Adweek Pride Stars speaking at Friday's event included: Rigel Cable, director of analytics and SEO at Astound Commerce Kendra Freeman, co-founder at Mendi Benjamin Lord, CMO at Mira Beauty Shelly McNamara, chief diversity and inclusion officer at P&G Michaela Ivri Mendelsohn, CEO at Pollo West Corp and founder at Trans Can Work Rachael Rapinoe, co-founder at Mendi Allyn Shaw, president and CEO at Recycle Track Systems Robyn Streisand-Luppino, founder and CEO at The Mixx and Titanium Worldwide Randall M. Tucker, chief inclusion officer at Mastercard Special guest: Ryan Sides, senior director and interim vp of social media at BET Networks Moderated by GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, the panel kicked off with an introduction by Adweek's editor and svp of programming Lisa Granatstein. BET senior director and interim vp of social media Ryan Sides, who helped create February's #BETQueerAF alongside Pride Stars honoree Empress Varnado, also joined the discussion. Here's what they had to say. On basic human rights Allyn Shaw: A friend said, ‘Hey, congratulations on the Supreme Court ruling,’ and I said, it shouldn’t have to require the Supreme Court of the United States to reaffirm that we should never even contemplate terminating someone because of their sexual orientation. Being treated equally is not a favor to our community. [kickout id="2"] Ryan Sides: We’ve arrived at a place with these victories, because they’re so hard-fought, where people are just excited for any type of progress. But some of these fights shouldn’t have had to be fought in the first place. I’m very tired of the volume of things we are dealing with at the moment, both on the Black front and the gay front. These are battles that preceded me. [kickout id="3"] Michaela Ivri Mendelsohn: The biggest challenge is properly identifying the problem. The problem [with transgender equality] is not just policy and practice—certainly changing laws are going to help—but so much of it is social and cultural. We’ve all been forged like a piece of steel in a mill, and we can use that energy now to make change. [kickout id="7"] Randall M. Tucker: Within the LGBTQ community, right now it’s about transgender rights and equality especially around Black and brown trans women. It’s a life or death situation—that’s where the house is burning. Benjamin Lord: I’m a gay immigrant man, and I’m going to welcome my first child with my husband in September. It’s a little scary to bring a child into this world ... I have mixed feelings about the current situation. [kickout id="10"] Sides: It’s also about giving people the tools they need to educate themselves. If you wait for people to come out of the complacency they’ve been in, they’re never going to do that. On hiring and inclusive workplaces Shelly McNamara: Who shows up and who’s in the room matters a lot. Who leads, and how do they lead? We need more people of color, more multicultural people, more LGBTQ people. Corporate America has to be urgent and take action. [kickout id="4"] Tucker: Within the employee resource groups and in the workplace, we need to have pronouns in all of our email signatures. [kickout id="1"] Mendelsohn: Companies should be changing their hiring practices and making the hiring managers really familiar with trans people. The trans person might be the number one candidate, but if the interviewer is worried about how to integrate them into the company they aren’t going to get hired. We don’t just want trans people hired into entry-level jobs; we want a true level playing field where everyone’s talents are respected and they have a real voice. Rachael Rapinoe: I am a white gay woman. It doesn’t matter how educated I am, I am going to miss something in someone else’s experience. In order to tell the full story, you have to have more diversity on your team and at the table. [kickout id="6"] Kendra Freeman: It's putting Black people, minorities, LGBTQ in that leadership position. When they go to hire someone, they need to have that diversity and equity [in mind.] One of our ambassadors, Megan Rapinoe, says “you cannot win without the gays.” And I believe that is true. Shaw: At my previous job at a massive bank, we wondered why we had single-digit numbers of Black people at our company. And they were like, oh we need more stickers, more this and that. I was like, 'how about hire more Black people?' And they went silent. Stop making up excuses as to why this particular individual is not ready for that opportunity. We have to invest in more [POC] entrepreneurs. And we have to elect more POC elected officials. You can’t create change if the people aren’t at the table. On the future of LGBTQ marketing Lord: Advertising in recent years has been very much about the accepted segments [of the LGBTQ community], and I would like to see more change. There’s an effort to be made around trans visibility overall and around intersectionality. It’s super important at this stage. Rigel Cable: Millennials and Gen Zs are really watching the way that brands put messaging out there. It’s an opportunity for brands to show how they’re going to put their money where their mouth is; not just selling a T-shirt where 5% goes to a nonprofit, but hiring LGBTQ people and systemic change. [kickout id="8"] Robyn Streisand-Luppino: I’ve been in marketing for 30 years helping brands look at diverse spaces. It’s not about how we’re gay or Black or [etc.], it’s about who we are as people. It’s not just about having a brand write a check. It’s what is that going to do for the community? [kickout id="9"] Tucker: We know that nonbinary and trans people have a really tough time getting their chosen name on documents. So we said, let’s think about what tools and resources can make it easier for the community. So with this [Mastercard's True Name] card, you can put your chosen name on it. It’s not that hard. Streisand-Luppino: Brands and people are looking into their own unconscious bias, and really owning up to the fact that this is the new normal.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Adweek Pride Stars on the Changing Face of LGBTQ Inclusion

They joined Adweek and GLAAD to discuss intersectionality and workplace advocacy

Mary Emily O'Hara

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Mary Emily O'Hara