Taking Pride in who we are
Be yourself, be heard, and be impactful
At Recruitee, we believe in creating the space for everyone to be themselves, be heard, and be impactful with us.
To recognize the incredible talent, strength, resilience, and contributions LGBTQ+ people have made and are continuing to make in all aspects of society, we sat down with three Recruitees who opened up to us about the importance of Pride, what helped shape them to be their authentic selves, and how to progress conversations around the LGBTQ+ community beyond Pride Month.
Ken Kreutzer, Lucas Reymond, and Sofie Gustavsson are part of our Customer Success and Customer Support teams. They play a key role in building strong relationships with our customers and, at the same time, want to raise awareness around creating more inclusive workplaces and support initiatives that serve the LGBTQ+ community throughout the year.
“While it’s nice to see companies change their logo colors in support of Pride month, it would be nice to see them go further still and support initiatives throughout the year that serve our community.”
Sofie Gustavsson (She/Her), Senior Customer Success Manager @ Recruitee
Hi Ken, Lucas, and Sofie, thank you for sitting down with us. We’re almost at the end of this year’s Pride Month. What does Pride mean to you?
Ken: Pride is all about being who you want to be. And I think Pride Month helps us all celebrate that together, not only in the Netherlands where I’m from but all around the globe. Pride is making everyone more aware of differing sexual orientations, not always to have to explain what it means to be part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Being half Japanese and having experienced the culture first-hand, I noticed there is still a big difference in acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. For instance, Japan is the only country in the G7 where gay marriage is still forbidden. There’s still a long way to go in terms of educating others about the LGBTQ+ community, but it’s getting better with every generation.
Lucas: For me, Pride is recognizing that while all our journeys may look different, we are all, in fact, the same. When it comes to Pride month, that’s a yearly reminder of our rights and the steps that we still need to work on to improve the lives of the LGBTQ+ community. Pride is a celebration of what we were able to achieve historically and a reminder that we still have a long way to go. It’s not all rainbows and unicorns around the world yet, but it should be. And hopefully, in the next few years, every country will give LGBTQ+ community the same rights as everyone else.
Sofie: As the name suggests, for me, it means to be proud of yourself. I see Pride month as a designated time and space to acknowledge different identities. However, Pride, in general, shouldn’t be limited to this one month. Even though I want to use this month as a platform to express myself, Pride, in general, has been something that I’ve had to work up the courage to speak about.
“Pride is a celebration of what we were able to achieve historically and a reminder that we still have a long way to go. It’s not all rainbows and unicorns around the world yet, but it should be.”
Lucas Reymond (He/Him), Customer Support Specialist @ Recruitee
Who or what has been your biggest inspiration or helped you to live out your truth?
Ken: My biggest inspiration in my life came from the people around me, the closest to me so, my family, my friends, but also my ex-boyfriend back then, because for me, by talking about the feelings and talking about the whole process about figuring out who you are helped me to realize that I’m different. It’s also good to be different from other people.
Sofie: I took inspiration from my best friend, who was so open, so comfortable about his true self, and I found it really inspiring, him being a bisexual male, and in such a society where men have a lot of expectations, I thought it was really nice to see someone be so casually open about his own sexuality, so that made me feel more comfortable in terms of expressing myself.
Lucas: For me, it has been my mum. Maybe it sounds cliche, but it’s true! And Lady Gaga, of course! Haha
How can we keep the conversation around the LGBTQ+ community going beyond pride month?
Sofie: Companies should support initiatives throughout the year that serve our community.
Generally speaking, I would like to see some more systematic change. For example, I’d love to see schools talking about LGBTQ+ communities more and have conversations with young people from an early stage. I think having open discussions around such topics is healthy and essential.
Ken: I have friends in Amsterdam who still face homophobic abuse for holding their partner’s hand in public. As long as such events like this are still happening, we can’t stop shedding light on it and must keep discussing how we can create safety for everyone. There is still global inequality in terms of sexual orientation and people’s acceptance of it. The conversations around the rights of the LGBTQ+ communities should go on beyond the month of June.
Lucas: We shouldn’t be put on the spot for one month and then be forgotten for the rest of the year. Many companies change their logos in June to support Pride month, but companies need to do more to support that action. They could maybe promote awareness or sensitivity training throughout the year. These could be about religion, sexuality, or gender.
“The conversations around the rights of the LGBTQ+ communities should go on beyond the month of June.”
Ken Kreutzer, Customer Success Manager @ Recruitee
At Recruitee, we believe such conversations should continue beyond Pride month. We stand by our pledge to continuously build a workplace where everyone feels welcome and free to be themselves.
We hope this inspires you to do the same!
Now, we want to hear from you: how do you think we can keep the conversation around the LGBTQ+ community going beyond pride month? Share your thoughts in the comments.
