Happy Pride!
Pride Month is celebrated each year in June, honoring the historic 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. Fifty years ago today, trailblazers at the Stonewall Inn took a stand against brutality, discrimination, and oppression. These riots were pivotal to the gay rights movement, catapulting the fight for equality to the political front lines — a fight we still know all too well today.
While the United States has taken some steps towards equality, the LGBTQ+ community is still marginalized. 1 in every 5 LGBT+ adult is homeless. We’ve already seen at least 11 transgender people in the US violently killed in 2019. In 2018, more than 70 percent of LGBTQ+ youth reported feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness. The list of terrifying statistics goes on.
CallRail is proud to champion the voices of the LGBTQ+ community, and the strides we’ll take together. ‘Respect everyone’ is one of our core company values, and it’s something we take seriously.
We strive to create an inclusive, safe space for all walks of life. It’s more important now than ever for LGBTQ+ community members and allies alike to unite, look back on the struggles we’ve fought through, and celebrate how far we’ve come. Sharing our stories, finding common ground in our humanity through tough conversations, and celebrating our individuality in the face of inequality takes courage. But no one should live in fear or shame of who they are — our differences are what unite us.
This is something we took to heart as CallRail made its debut in the Atlanta Pride Parade in October of last year. It was a day full of acceptance, love, lots of dancing, and even more hugs.
Leading up to the parade, #PrideRail hosted a panel to share perspectives and educate. We held a clothing donation drive for Lost-N-Found Youth, benefiting homeless LGBTQ+ youth. And we created a fun video for our float truck featuring Fluide makeup, specially designed for all skin tones and gender expressions. We even had a drag show!
For the parade, we leaned into our product offering by wearing shirts and handing out goodies with a CallRail tracking number on them. When attendees call this number, they’re greeted by messages of encouragement and acceptance from CallRail team members.
A loving message can go a lot further than you think, and our hearts will be forever warmed by the appreciative messages we received in return. Our first Pride parade was one for the books!
Today, you can virtually join WorldPride, the biggest Pride march ever! The Human Rights Campaign‘s rallying cry this year is: ” ‘People. Power. Pride.’ — because it’s people like you who celebrate your pride in your individuality that give our fight for equality its power.”
Finally, in celebration of 50 years since that historic day at the Stonewall Inn, here are a few words from Team CallRail about what Pride means to us:
“The thing I love about celebrating pride the most is paying homage to the transwomen at stonewall in 1969 who were protecting their own human and civil rights. Without this history of radical struggle, LGBT rights as we know them would not exist. Liberation for LGBT people is attainable thanks to the audaciousness of consistent community action. Pride is more than glitter and rainbows, it is thriving in intersectional resistance and revolutionary action.”
– Natasha Bailey, Customer Support Specialist
“Pride means an unwavering sense of confidence and truth to self with and without adversity. It’s taken me a while to fully understand what being proud means. Adversity and challenges because of your truth are all too common. But, with pride comes a sense of strength and endurance that is impossible for any outside entity to shake. That unwavering and unrelenting existence creates an internal peace. Pride cannot be moved, because it is who I am.”
– Trishawn Brown, Outbound Sales Development Representative
“There are people out there who are trying to convince you that you aren’t worthy of love — that you’re inherently bad for just being who you are. Pride is making the decision to love yourself anyways. It’s realizing that those people aren’t right just because they’re angry and loud about their convictions. It’s saying ‘forget you’ with a smile.”
– Wes Riley, Customer Support Specialist
“Pride to me means being your true self. Taking the opportunity to grow into yourself and allow people to grow with you and to experience what authenticity looks like. Pride to me means respecting those around you even if they don’t. Pride is understanding that you’ve got a future generation that is in need of your guidance and you are responsible for helping them as you were helped.”
– Linus Djokoto, Customer Support Specialist
“Pride to me means being able to love without bounds, and ideally having the acceptance of your family. I love myself, and even when people cannot, I know that I have love with my chosen family. Like RuPaul says ‘How is anyone gonna love you if you don’t love yourself?’”
– Samantha O’Rourke, Account Specialist
“Pride is the biggest mirror; it reflects and magnifies what and who we are. At its core, Pride is the celebration of the “individual.” Allowing us all to see and truly accept each other. Which, in turn, we understand ourselves a little more.”
– Harrell Wells, Customer Support Team Lead
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