show up – With June Pride Month approaching, Jaymes Black argues that companies can’t stop at marketing gestures. He lays out concrete steps—understanding the size of the LGBTQ+ consumer market, making benefits and workplace language truly inclusive, and partnering with
By the time June arrives, many companies have already planned the visible pieces—messages, banners, themed campaigns. But inside workplaces, the real question starts earlier, with whether LGBTQ+ employees feel supported in everyday life and whether company policies match the pride being advertised.
Jaymes Black. CEO of The Trevor Project. frames Pride Month as a moment for both celebration and acknowledgement—especially given the progress still to be made. As he puts it. businesses can support LGBTQ+ people in ways that go beyond optics. including steps that should be built into policies. benefits. and hiring decisions rather than limited to a calendar page.
The math matters, too. Nearly 1 in 10 adults in the U.S. identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. and for Gen Z adults that number climbs to more than one in five. In the U.S. the LGBTQ+ community had roughly $1.4 trillion in buying power in 2021. and that estimate grows to $3.9 trillion worldwide.
Black argues that LGBTQ+ people are not a short-term audience. “Supporting the LGBTQ+ community is a long-term investment,” he says, whether a company has been a decades-long supporter or is considering showing up for the first time this Pride Month.
That long-term commitment starts with the workplace itself. Pride Month, Black says, is an opportunity for business leaders to look closely at how they support LGBTQ+ employees through benefits and everyday practice.
He urges employers to check whether benefits are inclusive of LGBTQ+ staff needs. Among the questions he raises: do companies offer adoption and family planning support benefits?. Do employer-sponsored health insurance plans cover gender-affirming care for transgender and nonbinary staff?. Do employers maintain an employee resource group for the LGBTQ+ community?.
Even when benefits are in place, language can either make people feel seen or quietly shut them out. Black recommends small, practical changes such as using gender-inclusive language where possible and creating opportunities to share and respect people’s pronouns.
Hiring is another lever businesses can pull. Black says that hiring LGBTQ+ employees can bring diversity of thought and experience that helps companies better understand LGBTQ+ consumers. He also points to the role of representation at leadership levels. saying hiring LGBTQ+ leaders can offer possibility models for LGBTQ+ staff who may not have believed advancement in their industry was possible.
For companies unsure where to begin. Black points to peer organizations that have already spent years figuring out what meaningful support looks like in practice. As an example, he highlights a three-year partnership between The Trevor Project and MAC Cosmetics. The collaboration is designed to help ensure MAC stores’ employees and customers find welcoming. safe environments where they can show up as their full selves.
Through the partnership, Black says, experts have supported MAC’s makeup counter staff in learning and using inclusive language, and in sharing powerful online stories that highlight the role that beauty and makeup can play in affirming someone’s gender identity or expression.
But allyship doesn’t need to be confined to corporate walls. Black also argues that companies should look outward—toward local LGBTQ+ organizations, community centers, and advocates that are already working in nearly every state and community.
He suggests researching what groups exist wherever a company calls home and reaching out directly. The Equality Federation, he says, is a starting point because it operates a national network of more than 50 state-based LGBTQ+ organizations.
And the most direct feedback may come from LGBTQ+ people themselves. “Talk to them,” Black says—asking who and where they turn to for support, and what would be meaningful for them this Pride Month.
Black closes with a simple point: there is no single “right” way to be an ally during Pride Month. Allyship, he insists, is a verb. It depends on whether companies are showing up authentically. taking tangible action. and supporting the LGBTQ+ community at their company—not just during June. but beyond it.
Jaymes Black is CEO of The Trevor Project.
Pride Month LGBTQ+ inclusion workplace benefits gender-affirming care employee resource group pronouns hiring diversity The Trevor Project MAC Cosmetics partnership Equality Federation