Pride Month in 2025 arrives at a time of both celebration and complexity. For many in the LGBTQIA+ community, it is a moment to honor resilience and progress, while also confronting ongoing challenges to inclusion, safety, and visibility. It is a month marked by revelry and exhaustion, action and reflection, a time when being one’s full, authentic self in the workplace remains an act of courage.
“Being queer in 2025 means holding a lot at once: joy, grief, fatigue, resistance. This Pride Month, we’re holding space. Visibility isn’t just about being seen—it’s about being safe, respected, and valued.”
Katie Moody, Senior Product Enablement Specialist and co-lead of the Queers of OpenSesame Employee Resource Group (ERG)
The heart of Pride is something profoundly human: the desire to be seen, to be safe, and to belong
Our workplace cultures hold more than influence—they hold the tools to build spaces where no one has to trade authenticity for acceptance. Where being yourself isn’t a risk, but a right. Where learning about each other becomes a daily act of empathy, not a once-a-year initiative.
Pride Month is not a checklist. It’s not a parade on the calendar or a flag in the breakroom. It’s a call to courage, to compassion, and consistent action. Pride Month is an invitation to leaders everywhere. Because if we’re building a truly inclusive workplace culture, we can’t stop at symbolic gestures. We need cultures that deepen empathy, challenge bias, and equip everyone to practice real allyship—not just during June, but every day.
So, whether you’re a Chief People Officer, an L&D program manager, or a multi-hatted HR administrator, this month is your moment to lean in.
What does “real allyship” look like?
One of the most powerful contributions we can all make during Pride Month and beyond is modeling and enabling real allyship in the workplace. Allyship is not a static identity or performative. It is a consistent, deliberate practice built through learning, listening, and action.
So, what does real allyship look like at OpenSesame?
- It looks like thoughtfully curated training that moves beyond terminology to equip individuals with the tools to take meaningful action.
- It sounds like leaders confidently using gender-inclusive language and creating space for dialogue without fear or judgment.
- It feels like psychological safety, where every team member, regardless of identity, feels seen, respected, and valued.
- And yes, sometimes it means offering patient, respectful guidance to a colleague who’s still learning, because allyship is also about creating space for growth and understanding.
At its core, allyship is about showing up. Not just in June, but every day. Not just in policy, but in practice. And for those of us in talent development, that starts with embedding inclusion into the very fabric of how we teach, lead, and grow.
We’ve curated a learning path that’s built for impact: intentional, inclusive, and aligned with the realities of today’s workplace.
These courses are short, powerful, and most importantly, practical, making it easy to integrate meaningful learning into busy schedules. From understanding pronouns and supporting transitioning colleagues to exploring intersectionality, this path is a dynamic toolkit built to help you foster belonging. It’s not just about celebrating Pride. It’s about embedding equity into everyday behavior, policy, and culture.
Highlights include:
- “LGBTQ+ Pride Month (U.S.)” by OpenDoors
- “Out in the Open” series by Mindscaling
- “Supporting Trans and Non-Binary People at Work” by VinciWorks
- “What Are Personal Pronouns?” by OpenDoors
- “Anyone Can Be an Ally” by SunShower Learning
Pride as a practice
Because Pride is a practice. A commitment to show up every day for equity, visibility, and dignity.
Pride Month is an opportunity to lead with intention, to learn with humility, and to stand with those whose voices too often go unheard.
Whether you’re just beginning or are deep in the work, this is your moment to recommit. Not to perfection, but to progress.
Let Pride be more than a month.
Let it be how we lead.
Let it be how we live.
Let it be a practice.
🏳️🌈 Happy Pride, from all of us at OpenSesame.
About the author
An award-winning talent development professional, Liza Mucheru Wisner has extensive experience working directly with executive leadership at organizations in both the private and public sectors to develop and deliver learning experiences. As OpenSesame’s Talent and Workplace Culture Portfolio Lead she works with publishers and customers to curate the very best content for the OpenSesame catalog.