It’s described as a “collaborative platform that takes a positive stance against hate and discrimination based on gender and sexual diversity.” Long Beach Pride, May 19–20 Beirut Pride, May 14–20īeirut Pride takes place annually around May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia. Events take place throughout the city over the course of a week at Yoyogi Park, culminating with the lavish main parade on Sunday, May 6. Tokyo Rainbow Pride, the largest LGBT Pride in Japan, is a week-long event organized by the city’s LGBT community to support and promote awareness and equality. ‘It was great to see the ExxonMobil contingent in the Houston Pride Parade last Saturday evening – and a fitting celebratory milestone for all the hard work and engagement that LGBT XOM employees and their allies have put in over these last few years.Salt Lake City Pride Tokyo Rainbow Pride, April 28–May 6 Mike Craig, Co-Chair of advocacy group Out & Equal Houston told Gay Star Business that ExxonMobil’s participation in the event was a positive sign. Organizers estimate that the relocation helped this year’s event attract something in the region of 700,000 people. This year’s Houston Pride parade took place in the Downtown district, after 36 years in the Montrose neighborhood. J.Chris Martin, president of Pride, Exxon-Mobil’s LGBT employee resource group, concurred, saying, ‘I think what’s changed is that we’ve been able to show there’s a business advantage to the company.’Įxxon-Mobil is headquartered in Houston, Texas. They’ve been slow to recognize that it’s in their interest to move to a culture of inclusion.’ ‘They need to attract and retain the top scientific and engineering talent. ‘Like other major oil companies, Exxon is increasingly a technology company, Steve Coll, author of Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power told the New York Times. In an indication that the company is edging into the 21st Century, at the beginning of 2015 it re-introduced policies barring discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.įurthermore, this October it will be one of the official sponsors of the annual Out and Equal Workplace Summit in Dallas – an event where hundreds of LGBTI representatives convene to discuss diversity and inclusion. That ‘betrayal’ may have been a reference to Exxon passing up an opportunity to do the right thing when Exxon took over Mobil in 1999, it dropped the latter’s policies prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and terminated the practice of offering benefits to same-sex partners. In 2013, HRC President Chad Griffin said, ‘No company has proven itself a worse corporate citizen by betraying its LGBT employees time and again than ExxonMobil.’ In fact, it scored -25 the only company to ever score a minus figure. The company, which is the third largest in the world, came at the very bottom in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index in 20. What makes it more remarkable is the shift it demonstrates in ExxonMobil’s own particular stance. This makes ExxonMobil’s support of Houston Pride last weekend, where staff were given permission to march with an official ExxonMobil banner and wear branded T-shirts, noteworthy.
However, while big companies in the tech, retail, finance and legal sectors appear to have embraced LGBTI inclusion within their core values, firms in the energy sector sometimes lag behind. It’s now common to see corporate staff participating in Pride parades.