Organisations Worldwide Recognised for Commitment to LGBTIQ+ Cause in Record-breaking Gala Event at Amsterdam’s Maritime Museum

On November 3rd, the 2023 Workplace Pride Impact Awards Gala began in style as the renowned Belgian singer-songwriter and Eurovision sensation, Gustaph, took the stage to open the highly anticipated event.

On October 19th, the Free to Be Me Program, Workplace Pride, in collaboration with the Dutch Embassy in Rwanda and Hivos, convened the Kigali Socio-Economic Roundtable Discussion. This significant event brought together over 30 community members, diplomatic missions, and business representatives with the aim of raising awareness regarding socio-economic inclusion for the LGBTIQ+ community, initiating crucial conversations, and fostering commitment for future dialogues.

On September 15th, inclusivity was unlocked at this year’s LGBTIQ+ Workplace Inclusion Symposium, featuring keynote presentations by Teri Kirby (Purdue University, USA) and Jojanneke van der Toorn (Leiden University, NL), who delved into the latest cutting-edge research on LGBTIQ+ inclusion.

Hosted by Electrolux Group at their headquarters in Stockholm on September 14th, this highly interactive forum brought together many members from or with activities in the region to share knowledge and find synergies.

Participants engaged with corporate, diplomatic, governmental, and civil society stakeholders to explore how they could collectively make progress for the LGBTIQ+ community in the workplace, in collaboration with Workplace Pride.

Workplace Pride partnered with the RVO and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs to organise the “Stories from the Heart” gathering. This unique event brought together LGBTIQ+ activists from various regions of the world participating in the RVO’s “Building Bridges” program and Workplace Pride members.

The activists shared their on-the-ground experiences with members, many of whom had colleagues working in the same countries, on Friday, August 4th, 2023.

Workplace Pride invited participants to its 2023 International Conference on May 26th at the Spoorwegmuseum in Utrecht. This annual gathering of many stakeholders highlighted the progress the LGBTIQ+ workplace inclusion movement continued to make worldwide. At the same time, it addressed the ongoing and relentless challenges faced by the LGBTIQ+ community, some of which even threatened safety and well-being.

March 10th. Our forthcoming round table, “Building a more Inclusive Socio-Economic Environment for LGBTQIA+ in the Philippines”, aims to bring together civil society and business representatives to raise awareness, to start conversations and to build a commitment to future dialogue especially in the socio-economic development space.

Friday, 16 December 2022, as part of its contribution to the 5-year Free to Be Me (F2BM) Project that aims to improve the lives of LGBTIQ+ people in 14 global south countries, Workplace Pride organised the first Socio-Economic Roundtable in Africa. This event, which was held at the residence of the Netherlands Ambassador in Nairobi, Kenya brought together representatives from local civil society organisations, businesses, and the diplomatic community.

On Friday, October 28th at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam, the event celebrated the organisations and individuals who had played such an important role in the LGBTIQ+ workplace movement over the past year.

The Gala’s theme was “Colours of the World”. It represented the global character of the community in all of its diversity, and guests were encouraged to demonstrate their solidarity by attending in colorful, internationally themed formal wear.

On Friday, September 30th, Workplace Pride was pleased to invite you to this conference entitled “The Future is Now: LGBTIQ+ Workplace Inclusion in Japan”, which was designed for our many members who had activities in the country. They wanted to ensure that they created workplaces where their Japanese employees could truly be themselves.

On Thursday, August 4th – After a hiatus of several years, Workplace Pride was honoured to again organise the 2022 edition of ‘Stories From the Heart’ as our main Amsterdam Pride event. The event was kindly hosted by our Foundation Member, Heineken, and co-hosted by our Foundation Partner PwC. This year’s event featured activists from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kurdistan, Poland, Serbia, and Slovakia.

After a 2-year hiatus, Workplace Pride was able to physically bring many of our members together in our 2022 International Conference. This memorable event, very aptly titled “Stronger Together: Re-defining Global LGBTIQ+ Standards” was held on June 24th in the Amsterdam Ship Passengers Terminal. Hundreds of participants from many different organisations, backgrounds, and outlooks found common ground in the need to continue progress on LGBTIQ+ inclusion in workplaces around the world.

Thursday, May 19th. In this symposium, Prof. Anna Einarsdottir, from the University of York, and Prof. Jojanneke van der Toorn, from Leiden University and Workplace Pride’s Special Professor for LGBTIQ+ Inclusion, shared insights from their recent research on the topic, discussing the promises and pitfalls of LGBTIQ+ ERGs and how they can be most effective. A panel including LGBTIQ+ ERG and HR specialists, including Workplace Pride’s executive David Pollard, reflected on the findings, shared insights from practice, and discussed how ERGs can contribute to LGBTIQ+ workplace inclusion.

This conference held on 31st March, highlighted that creating workplaces where everyone can be themselves is a priority for modern businesses around the world. People who feel included and have a sense of belonging in their workplaces are more productive, better team players, and make a greater contribution. They are less likely to be ill or need to be replaced, all of which translates into a positive financial impact for businesses.

The 2021 Workplace Pride Leadership Awards Gala was held on Friday, October 29th at the Scheepvaart Museum in Amsterdam. To celebrate our successful navigation through the tempest of the previous 18 months, and with the Gala taking place at the Scheepvaart Museum, we felt it was fitting to create an event with a nautical theme, “Rock The Boat”.

The theme of Workplace Pride’s 2021 International Conference, held on 25th June 2021, was: “Society at a Crossroads: Leveraging LGBTIQ+ Workplace Inclusion for Greater Impact.” As we regularly interacted with people online from around the world, we understood that barriers to communication and progress no longer existed, or at least they should not have existed.

From May 20th to 21st, the conference featured keynote speeches by Dr. Lee Badgett (UMass Amherst) and Yvonne Muthoni (Kenya Open for Business), several multi-disciplinary academic sessions, as well as focused panel sessions that bring together researchers, employers, employees, practitioners and policymakers around topics relevant to LGBTQI+ workplace inclusion, broadly defined.

During the conference, held on 17th May 2021, we discussed both the barriers and the opportunities facing businesses with regard to their LGBTI employees and clients or customers. It also explored how investors were increasingly looking at the breadth of a business’s engagement when it came to equitable workplaces. Participants included (a.o.) representatives from both multinational and Hungarian businesses, members of Hungarian LGBTI civil society, and members of the diplomatic community.

This unique, bi-national and multi-media conference within a global context was entitled, “Taiwan – Trailblazing LGBTI Workplace Inclusion in Asia – Marriage equality in times of social change” and took place on 27th October 2020. The timely event was organised against the backdrop of ever greater diverse and inclusive societies and workplaces. Set in the midst of a global pandemic, ongoing challenges with gender equality and the heightened awareness of racial inequality around the world, this event brought both the challenges as well as the opportunities of greater workplace inclusion to the forefront for everyone.