Today is the last day of Pride Week 2020, and at Capital on Tap we’re marking it with a bang by hosting a Virtual Disco with a Live DJ for colleagues working remotely across the UK.
Pride Week is one of the highlights of the company social calendar, and aside from being incredible fun, we use it as an opportunity to educate and learn from each other, promote diversity and celebrate the cultural impact of the LGBTQ+ community at large.
What is pride?
Every year in June LGBTQ+ people and allies across the globe come together to advocate for, and celebrate, the rights and values the community hold dear.
Pride has its origins in the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City which were a turning point in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality and acceptance. In the West, the events are largely a celebration of the progress in that fight and a way of recognising those who fought. In much of the developing world, Pride movements are still a protest against prejudice and inequality, and the struggle continues.
In both cases, Pride is about bringing people together in the spirit of acceptance and the celebration of diversity. With COVID-19 paralysing the world, the celebrations are looking a little different this year, and most of the events have moved online, but this hasn’t taken away from that spirit - people are just finding new ways to come together, and we’re no exception!
Our London office gearing up for marching, before the parade was cancelled!
Pride celebrations at Capital on Tap
Given our strong ethos of inclusion, and the fantastic representation LGBTQ+ people enjoy in the company, Pride is something we always get excited about.
Aside from the Disco tonight, this year we’ve enjoyed a bake-off, two Queer Film evenings and a big gay quiz.
Congratulations to our Head of Engineering, Liam, who won Star Baker
We also streamed gay anthems on our company radio station, and had video greetings throughout the week from drag legends such as The Vivienne and Alyssa Edwards!
But working remotely also gave us an incredible opportunity to shift our focus slightly, which saw us introduce more platforms for discussion and education than in the past.
We kicked off the week with a Panel of LGBTQ+ employees who discussed their experiences of being out in the workplace. Later we held a TEDxPRIDE, with talks on the history of drag culture, and a 101 on modern gay culture. We rounded out with a panel on the topic of Allyship, and why it’s so important in the workplace.
Jordan, our Senior Operations Manager, talks colleagues through the wilder aspects of the community.
There's always work to do
As we call time on a brilliant week full of celebration and joy, we’re also reflecting on the work still to do. Many people around the world have been taking time to listen and learn about the persistent injustices which have come to the fore through the Black Lives Matter movement, and at Capital on Tap, we’ve tried to do the same. Part of the learning this week focussed on the role that queer and trans black people played in the struggle for the rights we’ve been celebrating, and the need for allyship for other groups that still face overt or subtle prejudice, both in and out of work.
Still from The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson: Marsha P Johnson was a black drag queen and early activist for equality. Her Netflix documentary was the focus of one of our film nights.
We’re committed to carrying on that conversation, celebrating all the diversity that exists within our business, and building a team where everyone can turn up authentically and be appreciated and valued for who they are.
