Pride isn’t all rainbows and glitter. Sure, that’s a fun part of it. There is significant progress in the LGBTQ community that deserves to be celebrated. But as we fly our rainbow flags and march together this June, let’s not forget about the origins of Pride — a riot born out of the need for radical change. A 2023 report from The Trevor Project about youth mental health in the LGBTQ community shows us that our work to raise public awareness and acceptance is not done. 

As we celebrate Pride, let’s also remember to focus on things we can do every day to help everyone feel accepted, welcome, and safe. 

The origins of Pride

June became Pride Month to commemorate the Stonewall riots in New York City in June 1969. Like the protests that occurred in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, Pride stemmed from protests about police violence. 

Many of the early Pride leaders were people of color and transgender or gender-nonconforming activists whose identities were criminalized and who faced disproportionate violence. Without the actions of these leaders, LGBTQ rights and visibility would not exist as they are today. 

So, it’s appropriate that our attention during Pride comes back to the intersections of race, gender identity, and sexual orientation. Despite victories that protect our rights to marriage equality and freedom from discrimination in the workplace, our joy is tempered by the knowledge that we still have work to do to achieve equity for all of us.

Supporting the LGBTQIA+ Community 

Every day, Premera aims to improve customers’ lives by making healthcare work better. As part of this, it’s important to recognize the areas where healthcare falls short. According to a recent study by KFF, Larger shares of LGBTQIA+ adults compared to non-LGBT adults report having a negative health care experience in the past three years that caused their health to get worse. 

Many long-standing health inequities against the LGBTQIA+ community exist because of stigma and discrimination. These challenges are exacerbated among people of color, women, and young people. 

The result is unfair, unjust, and can have a negative impact on health outcomes. Premera is committed to ensuring everyone – regardless of race, where they live, ethnicity, income, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other factor – has access to affordable, equitable healthcare. 

Through our Social Impact program, we’ve invested in nonprofit partners, such as Cocoon House, which provides social services, including outreach, housing, and prevention to more than 2,500 young people and their families each year.  We worked with Cocoon House to raise awareness of the disproportionate number of homeless youth who identify as LGBTQIA+ and how their organization supports them, with help from corporate donors like Premera.  

We provided funding to Entre Hermanos, which provides support and advocacy for the LGBTQIA+ Latine community, to increase access to mental health care services for their clients across Puget Sound. This included providing culturally competent, Spanish-language, and no-cost mental health services. 

Premera also began sponsoring the Spokane Pride Parade in 2018, with participation from our Spokane-area employees. We’re proud to support the Spokane Pride Parade for the sixth year. 

In 2019, we formed a Pride Workgroup to engage our employees in planning and support for Pride at Premera. Early in the group’s discussions, we talked about how to do more to support our LGBTQIA employees, customers, and people in our community.  Our Pride workgroup has grown and has served as a role model for our other workgroups that celebrate the lived experiences of our employees.  

In 2021, Premera’s Trans Workgroup launched, which exists to create educational opportunities that promote equity and inclusion for the trans community at Premera. The workgroup consists of Premera employees from across divisions, roles, tenure, and backgrounds with a common goal: to make Premera—as a workplace and a healthcare plan—better for transgender people.  

The workgroup’s inaugural project, Trans 101, is a training created over the course of many months in 2022. Trans 101 addresses what it’s like to be transgender in the workplace and includes information on stereotypes and assumptions that exist.

This year, we’re excited to participate in virtual and in-person celebrations, and we’re also encouraging our employees to take steps to be more inclusive of gender diverse people by sharing personal pronouns.

Sharing our pronouns with Pride

We use pronouns, such as he/him, she/her, they/them, to refer to each other without using names. Using pronouns is a simple way to show respect and support for transgender, non-binary, and gender-diverse coworkers and other people with whom we interact. It helps remove assumptions about someone’s pronouns based on their appearance or name. You can learn more about pronouns and why they matter at mypronouns.org. 

Here are a few simple ways you can share your pronouns: 

• Add them to your email signature 
• Add them to your social media profiles (LinkedIn now allows you to add pronouns to your intro, next to your name) 
• Add them to your introductions during virtual meetings 
• Talk to your HR department about adding them to your employee profiles or workforce management software 

The fight to support the LGBTQIA+ community isn’t limited to June. Premera is committed to ensuring that everyone has equitable access to quality, affordable healthcare.