The overarching message is everyone has the potential to bring change. From teenagers and homemakers to corporate leaders, we all have the opportunity to make a difference.
The Amazing Workplaces team spoke with Ramkrishna Sinha (He) – Co-Founder – Pride Circle to understand what gave birth to the concept of ‘equALLY’, the importance of ALLYship and the journey forward.
How did the idea of equALLY come by?
equALLY is a gesture, a token of gratitude to all allies. The idea is celebrating allyship in all spheres of life right from home, school/college, workplace and society at large. Be it a supportive parent, sibling, colleague at work or the people from every walk of life who have contributed so much to the inclusion of the LGBT+ community, equALLY chronicles these unique stories.
The overarching message is everyone has the potential to bring change. From teenagers and homemakers to corporate leaders, we all have the opportunity to make a difference.
Forty-five people from different walks of life have contributed to the book. How do you think their contribution to the book shall change the way people look at standing up for a cause without fear of abandonment and ridicule?
A very significant question indeed. When it comes to the LGBT+ community, more often than not, people take a step back because of the stigma of association. You may be a silent supporter of the community, but there’s a fear that if you advocate for the community, people might assume that you belong to the community.
equALLY is not just about capturing the perspectives of people who stood up for the community, it is also a blueprint for people to follow. These stories, in a way, answers the question of how we all can be allies irrespective of our professions and socioeconomic settings.
equALLY is not just a book, it’s a statement of sorts. It’s a seed of change. It’s a movement. How do you resonate with this thought?
I absolutely love the phrase, ‘seed of change.’ The onus is on us to take steps and work towards change if we wish to live in a fair and equitable world. equALLY will definitely open minds of people to the lives of the LGBT+ community and the challenges they face. This book is a collection of stories of allyship from different perspectives and the best part is, you will find a story that resonates with you. The book will resonate with the population across the spectrum right from homes to schools and colleges. It’s heartening that such inspiring stories have come from teenagers who knows so much about the community and are passionate and vocal in their support.
The book also has reference to resources on understanding allyship and how to go about it. If you want to dig deep, you could check various resources available online. You could always reach out to Pride Circle to know more about the community and the work we do in this space.
Forty-five is a beginning, where does this journey take you from here? What next?
Well, we don’t know! We don’t want to put a number to it, but our work towards inclusion will continue. Forty-five is just a few of these stories from different walks of life. We’ve started a chapter called ‘Pride in Education’ specifically to look at allyship at home, schools and colleges. Check out our Insta handle to know more about this. We recently published a report in collaboration with BCG, IIM Ahmedabad to look at pride in higher education. We have also started a campus program to help students foster inclusion in their campus. The singular objective of all these initiatives is to make sure there’s a continual momentum of allyship.
We launched the #Ally Challenge, a global gamification of allyship with incremental awareness and learnings. It’s for people who identify themselves as allies but don’t know how to go about it. From reading articles to stories and watching videos, the campaign is designed to invoke interest and translate allyship into an actionable outcome for the community in a fun, gamified way.
Our endeavour is to build a larger, vocal, visible, global community of allies will continue. equALLY is one step in that direction.
You can read ally stories in the recently published book equALLY: Stories by FRIENDS of the Queer World, Published by Rupa, the first of its kind anthology put together by Pride Circle that was released on 9 April 2021. It contains 45 stories of everyday unsung allies making the world a bit more welcoming for the LGBT+ community every single day.
Pride Circle has enabled over 150 job offers for LGBT+ Talent in inclusive organizations, helped 50+ LGBT owned businesses to gain visibility, expand market reach and access to mentors, and works with over 250 organizations enabling LGBT+ inclusion.
About:
Ramkrishna Sinha (pronoun He/Him) is Co-Founder of Pride Circle and has enabled many organizations on their journey of LGBT inclusion. His research In & Out –The Indian LGBT Workplace Climate Survey 2016 co-authored & published by MINGLE played a crucial role in progressing the conversation in Indian workplaces. Ram has been recognized as Global D&I Hero of the Year 2017 at Intel. He was featured in the list of 50 LGBT+ Future Leaders Globally by OUT standing & Financial Times. He is currently compiling stories of LGBTI & allies in the blog titled 101 Coming Out Stories from India which has reached over five million people.