We all have a purpose, and the right to live out our purpose with freedom and dignity.
As we embark on the month of June, the ev+AGENCY team would like to salute and celebrate Pride Month. To us, Pride Month is much more than a movement celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, it’s about people discovering, accepting, and feeling free to live as the best version of themselves. As a business, we feel it’s important to honour the LGBTQ+ community and the month of uplifting voices, celebration of culture and the support of individual rights throughout the month. We encourage individuals and businesses that we are associated with to do the same in a way that fits who you are. So whether you send out a solitary support message, or spend 30 days in June acknowledging the LGBTQ+ movement on a daily basis, we invite you to be you. That’s truly the spirit behind Pride Month.
The Evolution of Pride Month
Throughout the month of June, there have traditionally been parades, and events celebrating all the LGBTQ community has achieved over the years.
The original rainbow flag — created by artist Gilbert Baker in 1978 — is used as a symbol of LGBTQ pride, but did you know that each color on the flag has its own meaning? In the widely known six-color flag, red is symbolic of life, orange is symbolic of healing, yellow is sunshine, green is nature, blue represents harmony and purple is spirit. In the original eight-color flag, hot pink was included to represent sex and turquoise to represent magic/art.
There have been many variations on the flag. In 2021, the flag was altered in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests, including black to represent diversity, brown to represent inclusivity and light blue and pink, the colors of the trans pride flag.
The Evolution of the Pride Flag
The Pride movement has come a long way since its inception, and the Pride Flag has evolved to reflect these changes in a meaningful ways. Over the years, other groups felt the need to have their presence known. Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and BIPOC have created symbols for their communities, and over time came into more widespread use. The transformation of the Pride Flag compliments the change that is happening in society today. It’s not only a point of pride to fly a flag to honor the fight for civil rights; but even better to participate in the fight for equality for everyone.
12 different Pride Flags and their meanings | Student Affairs
The Importance of Equity, Diversity and Inclusivity
The more we get to know about each other as people, the greater the understanding will be for people’s backgrounds and beliefs. We are all one living on this beautiful planet, and the more we’re able to grasp that we all need to work together to create a more peaceful and harmonized world, the better that will be for everyone. The philosophy of Neurodiversity is summed up poignantly by Harvard Medical School where they emphasize that differences are not viewed as deficits.
To further illustrate the wide ranging and ever evolving Pride movement, we recommend you look at Important Diversity & Cultural Calendar, Dates and Celebration Events. This site provides an excellent example of the wide ranging causes and movements happening everyday of the year in all four corners of the globe. It’s an excellent resource for understanding the human need to be acknowledged and understood for who we are as individuals and as groups who share common goals. Seeing events such as National Indigenous History Month, and movements such as Black Lives Matter being more universally recognized and acknowledged is good for everyone.
Celebrate the Freedom to Be Who You Are
This month, take a moment to celebrate the freedom we all have to be who we were born to be. In marketing circles, we call that celebrating your personal brand. Every human born on this planet is equal, there is no one greater than you and no one less than who you are. We all have a purpose, and the right to live out our purpose with freedom and dignity. We look forward to hearing about the many creative ways people around Edmonton, Canada and the World will be celebrating Pride Month. Our team here at ev+AGENCY appreciates the opportunity to support Pride Month, and we encourage everyone to celebrate the spirit of individuality and self expression.
If you are looking for ways to celebrate Pride Month, we invite you to search out events near you. Here we’ll give you a head start…