GOODBYE PINKWASHING

Prides. Do you remember them? 

Of course you do. And now at long last  they’re back, bigger, better and bolder then ever. In 2019 there were more than 100 Pride celebrations throughout the year. In those pre-Covid days 2019 was a fantastic year for LGBT+ Prides not just here in the UK but throughout the world. From London to Sydney, and from World Pride in New York to EuroPride in Vienna, we celebrated our proud and out community in all its diversity, alongside all our friends and allies.

And then 2020 happened, which changed things dramatically, with hardly any Pride events occurring anywhere in the world. 

And where were all those corporate entities who came out in 2019 and supported us on our individual Pride Days, waving their rainbow flags with gay abandon at events all over the country and taking part and supporting our parades and parties and community events? With a couple of exceptions, we didn’t see any. And we looked.

For when the one-day parade is over these people are nowhere to be seen, packing up their rainbow flags back into their cobwebbed corporate closets until the next year. 

Support for our LGBT+ community is not just for one newsworthy day in the year. It’s not about “pink-washing” a product, and cynically squeezing more money out of a community that they forget and don’t even consider for the rest of the year. It’s about supporting our LGBT+ community for 365 days a year, pandemic or no pandemic. 

It’s with this in mind, that Pride Life Global has launched the Pride Life Certificate of Diversity Practices. 

The Pride Life Certificate of Diversity Practices is awarded only to those businesses and organisations who have consistently and proactively proved their commitment to diversity and to the LGBT+ community and to LGBT+ rights and representation throughout the year, whether there’s been a Pride parade or not. 

To be eligible for the Pride Life Certificate of Diversity Practices a business or organisation must pass a stringent series of criteria, to prove their continuing and genuine support not just of their LGBT+ employees but also of the wider LGBT+ community. 

It’s the LGBT+ gold standard of excellence, a guarantee that an organisation is a proud, pro-active and yearlong supporter of the LGBT+ community, providing it with first-class products and services. 

Pride Life urges you to support those companies and services who have been awarded the Pride Life Certificate of Diversity Practices. 

They’re on our side. 

And after all, as proud allies of the LGBT+ community, they’ve earned it.