June is PRIDE Month—a time to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community and reflect on the importance of inclusion and equity in all spaces, including the workplace. At Talent Citizen, we believe that fostering environments where people can show up as their full, authentic selves is not only essential for individual well-being, but also critical to building dynamic, innovative, and just organizations. This month, we’re highlighting resources and reflections that deepen our understanding of LGBTQIA+ experiences in the workforce and the role each of us plays in advancing belonging.
For Pride Month, the American Writers Museum offered a wide range of resources that honor the voices and contributions of LGBTQIA+ writers. Highlights include virtual exhibits like Pauli Murray: Survival with Dignity and My America, author talks and podcasts featuring voices like Saeed Jones and Jennifer Finney Boylan, and curated reading lists spotlighting trans and non-binary authors. The museum’s thoughtful approach centers identity, history, and storytelling as powerful tools for visibility and change.
This in-depth exhibition from the San Francisco Public Library chronicles the extraordinary life of Harry Hay, a visionary organizer, theorist, and founder of the modern gay rights movement. In 1948, Hay conceived the idea that homosexuals were a cultural minority, leading to the creation of the Mattachine Society, the first sustained gay rights organization in the U.S. Through decades of activism, from labor organizing and Communist Party involvement to co-founding the Radical Faeries, Hay championed gay identity as something to be celebrated, not hidden. His early articulation of “Gay Consciousness” laid the foundation for LGBTQIA+ liberation movements across the globe.
Harry Hay reframed queerness not as deviance but as identity, community, and power, helping generations of LGBTQIA+ people imagine themselves as a people with history, dignity, and collective strength.
In a landmark victory, Gina Ortiz Jones, a veteran, public servant, and out LGBTQIA+ leader, was elected mayor of San Antonio, becoming the city’s first openly LGBTQIA+ mayor and a powerful symbol of intersectional leadership. Her win comes after years of service in the military and federal government, and after two hard-fought congressional campaigns.
What makes this moment so noteworthy is not just Jones’ identity, but also her campaign’s emphasis on dignity, inclusion, and equity, which are values deeply relevant to workforce culture and civic leadership. Jones’ lived experience, from growing up with housing insecurity to navigating Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, grounds her commitment to policies that serve entire communities, not just the privileged few. Her election reflects a broader shift toward representative leadership shaped by empathy, resilience, and vision.
The Human Rights Campaign offers a robust collection of capacity-building resources designed to support the empowerment, education, and economic well-being of LGBTQIA+ individuals, particularly those at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities. Through initiatives like THRIVE for youth-serving professionals, WorthIt for financial wellness, ACTIVATE and MOTIVATE for BIPOC trans leaders, and programs like Next Level, focused on job readiness, HRC is investing in long-term systems of care and leadership.
These programs are critical because they go beyond visibility to provide tangible tools that strengthen the pipeline of LGBTQIA+ advocates, professionals, and changemakers. Especially in a workforce context, they affirm that equity isn’t passive; it’s built through intentional investment in communities who’ve long been excluded from opportunity.
