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309 lines
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HTML
309 lines
11 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html>
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<html lang="en">
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<title>RainbowGram: Cultivating a Remote Workspace</title>
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<meta charset="utf-8" />
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<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" />
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<meta
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name="description"
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content="A practical, no-overhaul-required guide to the daily habits that make a measurable difference to LGBTQ+ colleagues in a distributed team."
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<body>
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<main>
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<h1>Cultivating a Remote Workspace</h1>
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<div class="talk-meta">
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<span>
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<i class="fas fa-calendar-alt" aria-hidden="true"></i>
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18 June 2026
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</span>
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<span>
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<i class="fas fa-map-marker-alt" aria-hidden="true"></i>
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Deepgram All Hands (Virtual)
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</span>
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<span>
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<i class="fas fa-user-tag" aria-hidden="true"></i>
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Speaker — RainbowGram Pride Presentation
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</span>
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</div>
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<p>
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Most workplace allyship conversations focus on policy. This one doesn't. This is a practical,
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no-overhaul-required guide to the daily habits that make a measurable difference to LGBTQ+
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colleagues in a distributed team.
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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Here's what's going on. If it doesn't affect you, it affects someone you know. Here's how you show up.
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</blockquote>
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<hr />
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<section>
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<h2>Start With Joy</h2>
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<p>
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Before anything else: we're here, and that's worth celebrating. Pride exists because queer
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people built joy in the face of things that were designed to erase them. That is not small. And
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celebrating that genuinely — not performatively — is one of the most powerful things any of us
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can do.
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</p>
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<p>
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We spend 40+ hours a week at work. That is a genuinely enormous portion of our waking lives.
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Which means the workplace is one of the most important places we can make a real difference for
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queer people — not by overhauling policy, but by choosing differently in small moments, every day.
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</p>
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</section>
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<section>
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<h2>The Honest Context</h2>
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<p>
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The national conversation around LGBTQ+ rights has gotten quieter in recent years. That is not
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the same as things getting better. The discourse shifted. A lot is happening that doesn't make
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headlines the way it used to.
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</p>
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<p>
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About 7.6% of US adults identify as LGBTQ+, according to Gallup's most recent data. In any
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company, that is statistically several of your colleagues. And even if you somehow don't work
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directly with a queer person, you almost certainly know one: a sibling, a child, a friend, a
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parent. The legislation being passed right now, the erasure that's happening — it doesn't stay
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abstract. It lands on a specific person that you care about.
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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This isn't a gay issue. It's a people issue. Which means this conversation is for all of us.
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</blockquote>
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</section>
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<hr />
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<section>
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<h2>Five Things You Can Do</h2>
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<p>
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No policy overhaul required. No perfect ally credential. These are gifts you can give starting
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today. Think of them as small choices that compound.
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</p>
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<div class="practice-block">
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<h3>1. Names and Pronouns — It's a Love Language</h3>
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<p>
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Use the correct name and pronouns. Get them right. If you mess up, correct yourself and keep
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moving — don't turn your mistake into a whole thing that makes the queer person comfort you
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about it. That shift of burden is the part that's exhausting.
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</p>
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<p>
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Here's a concrete thing you can do right now: add your pronouns to your Slack display name.
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Go first. It takes about thirty seconds, and it makes space for everyone else to do the same.
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When leadership goes first, it signals that it's safe.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="practice-block">
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<h3>2. Curiosity Without Invasion</h3>
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<p>
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Curiosity is fine. Human, even. But there is a category of questions about queer people's
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bodies, medical histories, and what someone was "really born as" that you would never ask a
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straight or cis colleague. The same standard applies.
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</p>
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<p>
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If you find yourself wondering about surgery, or transition, or someone's identity before you
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knew them — that's a question for Google, or a community resource, or a book. Not a person.
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The distinction is this: does this question serve them, or does it serve your curiosity?
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="practice-block">
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<h3>3. Their Story Is Theirs</h3>
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<p>
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Being out to you does not mean being out to everyone. Someone trusting you with that
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information is not permission to share it. Not as gossip. Not as helpful context. Not even as
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a compliment. Not your story to give.
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</p>
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<p>
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This matters more in distributed teams than people realise. A Slack message in the wrong
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channel, a comment on a call with people they don't know, a well-meaning mention in a
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one-on-one — all of these can out someone without any malicious intent. The rule is simple:
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unless they told you it's fine to share, it's not.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="practice-block">
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<h3>4. Be the One Who Says Something</h3>
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<p>
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Speak up when queer people aren't in the room. That's exactly when it matters most. The
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comment that would never get made in front of a queer colleague gets made because everyone
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assumes no one in the room cares. You can change that.
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</p>
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<p>
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You don't have to deliver a perfect speech. You don't have to have the right words memorised.
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<em>"I don't think [person] would love hearing that"</em> is enough. That's the whole thing.
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This is the biggest gift on this list, and it costs nothing except a moment of choosing to
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say something instead of saying nothing.
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</p>
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</div>
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<div class="practice-block">
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<h3>5. Language Is a Welcome Mat</h3>
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<p>
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Job postings, internal docs, emails, Slack messages, all-hands announcements — the language
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we use by default shapes who feels like they belong. Gender-neutral language costs nothing and
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includes everyone.
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</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Use "they" as a default pronoun when you don't know someone's.</li>
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<li>Use "partner" when you don't know someone's relationship structure.</li>
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<li>Reconsider "guys" as a group term — "everyone," "folks," "team" all work.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>
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None of this requires a policy change or a manager's sign-off. It's a choice, made in the
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moment, every time you write something.
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</p>
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</div>
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</section>
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<hr />
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<section>
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<h2>Your Action List</h2>
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<p>This is intentionally short. All of it is doable.</p>
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<ul class="action-list">
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<li>
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<span class="action-when">Right now:</span>
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<span>Add your pronouns to your Slack profile and Zoom name.</span>
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</li>
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<li>
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<span class="action-when">This month:</span>
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<span>If you can donate to an LGBTQ+ charity or mutual aid fund, do it. Every dollar counts, and there's no shortage of organisations doing necessary work right now.</span>
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</li>
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<li>
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<span class="action-when">This year:</span>
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<span>When you vote, think about the specific people in your life whose lives are literally on the ballot. Not abstractly. Specifically.</span>
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</li>
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<li>
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<span class="action-when">Always:</span>
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<span>When something makes a queer colleague feel smaller — say something. You don't have to get it perfectly right. You just have to show up.</span>
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</li>
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</ul>
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</section>
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<section>
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<h2>The Close</h2>
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<p>
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That's it. That's the whole talk. And I know it can feel like a lot when you list it out —
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but most of it comes down to one thing. Treating queer colleagues like their existence is normal
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and welcome. Because it is.
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</p>
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<p>
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Every time you use someone's correct name, every time you speak up in a meeting, every time you
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add your pronouns to a profile — you're giving back energy that person would otherwise spend
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just trying to exist at work. That energy doesn't disappear. It goes somewhere much more
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interesting.
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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You are how we cultivate a remote workspace. Happy Pride. 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
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</blockquote>
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</section>
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<hr />
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