Within our company, the Related Pride Group is proud to serve as the internal advocate for LGBTQIA+ employees, acting as a resource, sounding board and community for Related employees. During the final week of Pride Month, Related Pride hosted two events in support of LGBTQIA+ rights and LGBTQIA+ youth to increase employee awareness and benefit the local community. On June 23rd, Related Pride and Family Equality—a non-profit dedicated to advancing legal equality for LGBTQIA+ families—hosted a hybrid virtual and in-person discussion at 30 Hudson Yards on discrimination faced by LGBTQIA+ families in the family planning and foster care systems. Then on June 25th, Related Pride partnered with the Hetrick-Martin Institute (HMI)—an organization with the mission of providing services to LGBTQIA+ youth in need of support—for its first-ever volunteer event.
The first Pride event hosted in partnership with Family Equality featured a discussion led by Emily McGranachan, Family Equality’s director of corporate and foundation relations. Joining Emily was Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the 2015 landmark Supreme Court Case Obergefell vs. Hodges, which resulted in the legalization of same-sex marriage in the United States. Jim spoke to attendees about his own personal experiences with the Supreme Court and about the historic judicial decision that granted the long-awaited right to many LGBTQIA+ couples. The discussion helped spread awareness about some of the issues faced by the LGBTQIA+ community, including how families are oftentimes denied the right to adopt children because of their sexuality.
At the second Pride event, Related Pride joined HMI’s first Grab and Go Pride Parade at their headquarters, located at Harvey Milk High School. Related and Coach volunteers came together to provide much-needed materials to LGBTQIA+ youth during the kickoff of Pride Weekend. In addition to a donation from the Related Companies to HMI, Related volunteers handed out apparel and other necessities to attendees, including wallets, backpacks, purses and briefcases donated by Coach. Related Pride and its volunteers were pleased to support HMI’s mission of supporting safe and supportive environments for LGBTQIA+ youth.
