Pride Month is a celebration of who you are, who you love, and being able to show up as your authentic self. We celebrate our Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual (LGBTQIA+) and Two-Spirit family, friends, and colleagues.  We celebrate their courage and commitment in advancing civil rights and equity. We celebrate with bright colors and joy, recognizing these communities have long been forcibly erased from history and pressured to hide in society.

Four Metro employees pose with a Pride flag.
We proudly raised the Pride Progress flag last week at every Metro worksite to show that we stand with our LGBTQIA+ community and employees.

Our country’s LGBTQIA+ history has been marred with terrifying realities including, the raid at the Stonewall Inn and the torture and murder of Matthew Shepard. Even now, the LGBTQIA+ community is the subject of countless acts of violence and hate such as, the targeted murders and mistreatment of black trans women, gay pride events being targeted by white supremacists groups for violence, the hundreds of anti-trans laws being proposed across the county, and the reality that homosexuality is still illegal in dozens of countries around the world.

It is sobering to realize the United States only recently recognized sexual orientation and gender identity as federally protected statuses in employment in 2020. This meant that prior to 2020, a non-religious employer could fire an employee for being lesbian, gay, or transgender without violating federal civil rights law.

Metro is fortunate to have an independent EEO Office that works to ensure everyone, regardless of who you are or who you love, can work free from discrimination, harassment, and retaliation.

At Metro, we have made a commitment to confront behaviors that promote fear or intolerance and to embrace our equity compacts:

  • Share power
  • Interrupt business as usual
  • Replace it with something better
  • Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

It is all our responsibility to make Metro a place where people feel welcomed, supported, and can be their best and authentic selves.

We invite you all to celebrate Pride, to celebrate love, and to celebrate the wonderful things that make us human. And don’t forget to Ride with Pride!

Chris Bhang, Metro EEO Officer, contributed to this column. 

 

King County employees stand in front of a Metro bus carrying the words Ride with Pride