Pride and Joy Foundation is a proud Community Partner of ONE Community’s 5th annual Point of Pride LGBTQ Inclusive Summit. This year’s event runs June 21st-24th and begins with the up-to-the-moment State of LGBTQ+ Arizona presentation followed by three can’t miss panel discussions: LGBTQ+ Issues at the Capitol & Moving Forward, Building an Inclusive Workplace Culture, and Socially Responsible Business Advocacy

State of LGBTQ+ Arizona

The summit will kick off with a presentation on the importance of LGBTQ+ Workplace inclusion to attract and retain top talent to your organization, the current State of LGBTQ+ Arizona, and the path forward to a state that celebrates, respects, and protects us all presented by ONE Community President, Angela Hughey.

LBGTQ+ Issues at the Capitol & Moving Forward

The expert panelists Mesa Mayor John Giles, Regional COO of AMR/GMR and the Chair of the Mesa Chamber of Commerce, Glenn Kasprzyk, Glendale Chamber...

Do you remember your first "ah-ha" moment? The first time you ever encountered an openly LGBTQ+ person in the wild? Just an everyday human, passing by on the street, ordering a coffee, or walking their dog. 

For me, it was my manager at a steakhouse I worked at post-college. Growing up in Oklahoma, it never quite felt safe to admit my sexuality even to myself, let alone to let it show externally. 

And yet there she was. 

Openly queer, wife, baby on the way... living as confidently as can be. 

Working with her, I heard countless conversations about day-to-day life, how excited she and her partner were to pick out nursery room items, how she and her wife had met, career goals, etc. 

These conversations may have seemed insignificant to everyone else but to me, they were the evidence I didn't know I had been looking for. I realized if she could be herself, live a full and authentic life... so could I. 

So I came out. 

I stood...

One of the most beautiful things about the Pride and Joy Foundation is that it is “striving to build self-awareness within and safety for LGBTQ+ families and their allies.”  Let’s take a second to talk about how important allies are (hint: so freakin’ important!) to the LGBTQ+ community.  Let’s think about it this way - even if every member of a marginalized community banded together to fight for their cause, they would still be up against a majority, making change near impossible.  For any marginalized community, having strong ally support is integral in the fight for equality because allies allow for the community to show up in numbers and to prove that their cause isn’t only their own. 

But what does it mean to truly be an ally?  Queer sex educator and trauma specialist Jimanekia discussed in an Instagram video post her position on allies.  Though her post specifically references non-Black allyship within the Black...