Equality is what matters – so Salesforce is marching with Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2020
We’re delighted to announce that Salesforce will again be flying the flag for equality as a Major Partner at Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2020. Join us – be visible, vocal and proud on the journey to equality for all.
Salesforce is again partnering with the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Festival to promote equality for all. The theme of this year’s festival is ‘What matters’ – and what matters to us is equality – it’s one of our core values.
We believe that businesses can be powerful platforms for social change and that our higher purpose is to drive equality for all. Businesses can succeed while making a positive impact in the world – in fact that they have a responsibility to.
By participating in the festival, we will amplify our message of equality through action and encourage other Trailblazers to do the same by being visible, vocal and proud throughout the community.
Over the two weeks of the festival, many of our employees from around Australia will be involved both behind the scenes and right up-front.
On Sunday 16 February, we’ll be at Fair Day. Come down to our roaring ’20s-themed photo booth in Victoria Park in Camperdown between 10am and 9pm to celebrate Mardi Gras with the LGBTIQ+ community in Sydney and from all over Australia – it’s sure to be a very fun day.
We’ll also have a float in the parade with 60 people from our community of employees, customers, allies, partners and Trailblazers dancing and celebrating!
Partnership with JOY 94.9
We’re partnering again with JOY 94.9, Australia’s out, loud and proud radio station, and the Joy 94.9 team including the inimitable Frock Hudson will join us to broadcast from the float. We know – the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals tell us – that partnership is essential to achieve the goals of reducing inequality and achieving gender equality.
We are very proud to partner with a fantastic community organisation throughout the year through employees’ volunteer time off activities and to extend this partnership for the Mardi Gras festival.
What matters? Equality matters
This year’s theme is ‘What matters’, and this resonates so much with our team.
In the past, our community has told us that what matters is being supported in the workplace and able to bring their authentic selves to work. We show our support for what matters to our LGBTIQ+ employees and allies through our Outforce Equality group – made up of Salesforce employees and allies, and by making it part of our culture to be our authentic selves and support each other at work.
We heard that fighting for equality in legislation matters to our community, so we’ve taken action around the world to defend equality and act against discriminatory legislation. We challenged Proposition 8 in the US, which sought to ban same-sex marriage, and the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In Australia, standing up for what matters to our community meant partnering with Australian Marriage Equality in 2016 to demonstrate our support for changing the marriage legislation in Australia, and working to support the ‘Yes’ campaign in 2017 and 2018 once the postal plebiscite was announced.
We’ve been visible, vocal and proud in standing up for what matters to our community and together the community has achieved so much. The fight for equality is a journey, and we continue that journey through this partnership.
Barry Dietrich is Senior Vice President and GM, Public Sector, APAC at Salesforce. Read more from Barry.
