Pride is Everywhere, All at Once
Clara Bergeson, Content Coordinator
Pride, an iconic amalgamation of individual and collective acts of love, resistance, solidarity, and strength, celebrates the LGBTQ+ community beyond any one person, neighborhood, community, or month. It’s ubiquitous: found anywhere and everywhere. But, you may need to look behind the rainbows to see where it truly is kept.
With discourse around rainbow-washing continuing to saturate conversations of corporate “pride,” it’s important to remember Pride isn’t something you can simply display; it’s built. That’s why, brick by brick, Pride has been layered into everything we do at Grithaus - and it all starts with our people.
Intrinsically Authentic
Over the years, Grithaus has worked to curate a space free from justification – one where people coexist without explanation, argument, or proof. For us, this comes from the understanding and acknowledgment of everyone’s intersectional identities. Recognizing and respecting the existence of different orientations – be that race, class, gender, sexuality, physical ability, and so on – is only part of the interconnecting, unique identifiers of our team.
The encouragement of such mutual respect, and the ability to truly foster it, is what brings our authenticity to the centerfold. Because of the recognition of intersectional identities and the lack of justification needed for them, everyone is able to come exactly as they choose to be. As Co-Founder and CEO Megan Linebarger puts it, “Pride is one of those things that embodies and evokes a multitude of feelings: it's a way of being as well as an historical and omnipresent movement. It belongs in the workplace year-round, to remind us that while we are all different, we all share the desire for validation and inclusion, whether or not we choose to outwardly share or project our unique identities. We spend a majority of our time in the workplace ... Having a sense of comfort and safety here is a non-negotiable for us.”
When we bring our most genuine selves into our work, it creates a space where people are naturally drawn to embrace their own identity (be that publicly or privately) and that of those with whom they’re collaborating. When you can be your own authentic self, that’s where true magic occurs. At the end of the day, we are creating a workplace that not only calls for authenticity, but for alliance. “To hide intrinsic parts of oneself for the comfort of others or the perceived fear of rejection is to take an axe to creativity,” adds Grithaus Content Director, Nick Govoni. “In a creative business, or any business for that matter, everyone is entitled to shamelessly own their identity; our work is an extension of ourselves. I can’t overstate the empowerment that comes from an environment which recognizes that my queerness doesn’t detract or distract from the value of my work - if anything, it makes it better.”
Our Haus, Our Ally
Creating a space where folks can feel comfortable to come as they are was (and is) partly an intentional, concerted effort, and partly an organic evolution of the agency as we’ve grown since our founding in 2001. To us, it’s not enough to be tolerant; we must be active, outward allies to this beautiful community. We often say time is our product, but truly it’s our people, and our people are our brand. Through some force of cosmic goodwill and meaningful effort, we’ve created a gravitational pull that attracts people who are not only great at what they do, but passionate about cultivating an open and welcoming community. That, to us, is allyship.
As it pertains to intersectional identities, Grithaus’ allyship personifies itself as an open-minded friend, one who is always ready to talk, but respects the boundaries of those speaking.
As we treat everyone with the dignity and respect they deserve, Grithaus also recognizes our role in empowering and standing up for the LGBTQ+ community – be that confronting our own mistakes and prejudices, or amplifying queer voices in every conversation. But as our workplace identifies itself as an ally, it must also be reflected by the allies in our staff.
As a team, our allyship comes from our promises of consistency, inclusivity, and diversity. But just as Pride is (and should be) shown in large gestures, it’s just as important to stay consistent in showing allyship through small, unspoken cues.
All the Small Things (True Care, Truth Brings)
For ages, LGBTQ+ folks have known how to identify the small, secret codes that signify a safety net. With a history of coded language, many queer people have come up with covert ways to signal to each other that they’re a part of the same community.
While some have argued the necessity of such codes has diminished over the years, it seems to have simply transformed. Now, the covert signals may not even be realized. Instead, they can be seen as more of an unspoken expression of welcomeness and acceptance – especially in a workplace.
According to Elizabeth Minei’s article “LGBTQ+ Sensemaking: The Mental Load of Identifying Workplace Allies,” employees come to the workplace with identity preferences – choosing to disclose their identities strategically based upon cues from others, and subsequently, those presentations can be altered based on interactions. To make a long story short – people will take cues from others to see what is welcome and what isn’t in a workplace.
As a result of these small, secret codes, and the cues of queer recognition that follow, our team is able to find allyship in every small, conversational moment. This, of course, is the result of mirrored authenticity: when people are inherently authentic, it encourages others to be.
At Grithaus, it’s an unconscious thought to share our authenticity with the world, and in turn, with each other. When we are authentically prideful of ourselves, our community, our teammates, and our workplace, we make it effortless for our team to be themselves – in every small way they choose to do it.
Personally, I have never been as authentic in a workplace as I have been at Grithaus. As a nonbinary lesbian keen on working in the corporate sector, I had previously made peace with the fact that some parts of me would have to be left at home. But on my second interview, I found myself having a candid conversation about Grithaus’ DEI initiatives with an openly gay man. I don’t know if it was the charming company bios or the incredible support I found in the team, but I do know I have never had to hide here. Speaking for us all, I think we can find peace that in every conversation, work meeting, and client call, we are exceptionally ourselves.
Pride Down the Line
Pride is constantly evolving, and since the beginning, we have (and will continue to) evolve with it to the best of our ability. In celebrating intersectionality, where individuals and the collective team act as allies, Grithaus has created a foundation of authenticity, inclusivity, and equity – one that will only grow as we do.
Beyond proper pronoun usage and access to LGBTQ+ healthcare, Grithaus understands there is still work to be done. Pride is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate, commemorate, and memorialize the power of the LGBTQ+ community, but it’s also so much more than one month.
Year-round, we are educating ourselves and taking concrete steps to better our support of the LGBTQ+ community. As we look to the future, we are also reflecting on and appreciating where we are and where we have been – and we couldn’t have done it without our team – past and present.
Our power, as always, is in our people. When they have Pride, we all do, in everything we do.