The day The Trevor Project's corporate partners planned to launch their Pride activations was the same day that mass protests broke out around the country in the wake of George Floyd's death. Trevor asked their corporate partners to halt their campaigns to give space, time and resources to the #BLM movement.
It was far from the first time that Trevor, the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ young people, provided guidance to corporate partners on how to appropriately communicate with the population it serves.
In this case, it was important to stress to partners that Pride and BLM share a common denominator, according to Muneer Panjwani, Trevor's VP of Foundation, Government, and Corporate Partnerships in a recent webinar. "The origins of Pride are exactly the same as what the Black Lives Matter movement is fighting now: a movement against systemic violence and against police that are trying to oppress a marginalized community."
What Is “Intersectionality”?
The concept of "intersectionality" is one that's especially relevant for companies choosing to focus on the LGBTQ community and is defined as, “The complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups.”
According to Panjwani, LGBTQ youth represent many sub communities. Many of them hold identities where they face further marginalization whether they're Black LGBTQ, immigrant LGBTQ, female LGBTQ, trans or gender non-binary. "These layered identities compound the effects of bias and discrimination and present additional mental health concerns," says Panjwani.
Stats from a recent study from The Trevor Project
A recent study by Trevor revealed that while black LGBTQ youth experienced suicidality at similar rates to other LGBTQ groups, they’re significantly less likely to receive professional mental healthcare. And Black trans youth experience higher rates of suicdality than black lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer youth. These points of distinction help Trevor identify the gaps in services and further focus their efforts to reach these at-risk populations.
When it comes to corporate partnerships, Trevor has some advice for brands considering engaging with the LGBTQ community, especially through an intersectional lens:
Be authentic.
While the word, "authenticity" is a regular buzzword in social impact efforts, in this context it means asking yourself if your company is talking about LGBTQ issues year-round or just when Pride rolls around. Another question Trevor recommends asking internally, "Would the community you ally yourself with consider you an ally?" If the answer is, "no", you've got work to do.
Trevor partner Macy's serves as a valuable case example. Macy’s has been engaged with the LGBTQ community for 30+ years and was one of the first brands to step forward with a public display of support during the HIV crisis of the 80’s. They have LGBTQ representation throughout the organization, at every level. They incorporate LGBTQ images in their marketing materials.
Even with this long-standing support, Macy's realized last year that they didn't have a a national, customer-facing component to their LGBTQ efforts. According to Macy's SVP of Communications, Cheryl Heinonen, "a lightbulb went off and we said, 'That’s not right'. As a result, the company decided to "mainstream" The Trevor Project.
Engage for Good
In 2019, Macy's launched a national point of sale fundraising campaign asking customers to donate upon checkout to The Trevor Project. According to Heinonen, "Our Pride campaign with Trevor was one of the most productive campaigns we had (at point of sale). There were a few people who complained (there always are) but overall, our customers across the country embraced it." The effort also won the partners a Halo Award.
Center Impact.
According to Panjwani, companies need to ensure their campaigns directly contribute (financially) to an LGBTQ-focused cause and should focus on the direct impact it is making across campaign messaging. While building awareness is nice, it's not enough to move the needle. Furthermore, impact-centered messaging typically gets better engagement because people want to know that their participation - however small - is making a meaningful difference.
Trevor partner Google understands the importance of impact. According to Google's Shea Jackson McCann, Brand Marketing Manager for Google Brand Studio, "Our main strategic pillar internally is helpfulness. Anything you see from Google should lead you to take action yourself. Our primary engagement lever is the Google homepage which acts as the main funnel to all of our messaging related to affinity groups."
On the last day of Pride month, for example, Google's homepage featured a Marsha P. Johnson Doodle that directed people to learn more about the Black trans activist. Google.org also donated $500,000 to the Marsha P. Johnson Institute.
Google's Marsha P. Johnson Doodle
Elevate Diverse LGBTQ voices
According to Panjwani, LGBTQ cause marketing campaigns should always center the voices of the LGBTQ community itself. Brands need to be aware that the LGBTQ community contains a lot of different communities and ensure that these voices are elevated - especially marginalized voices who have not been centered as much in historical Pride campaigns.
Below are examples from Macy's and Google in partnership with The Trevor Project of how this can be done effectively.
Finally, Trevor offers a "cheat-sheet" for brands for LGBTQ cause marketing:
- Does your company have LGBTQ inclusive policies? (Check out the HEI Corporate Equality Index Criteria!)
- Is your company centering the voices of diverse members of the LGBTQ community (and subcommunities!) in your messaging?
- Is your company featuring individuals across a variety of identities within the LGBTQ community?
- Is your campaign contributing to issues impacting the intersectional LGBTQ community?
- Do you have an LGBTQ nonprofit partner involved? (Trevor believes there should always be an LGBTQ nonprofit that benefits from any LGBTQ-focused cause marketing efforts.)
- Is your company willing to have challenging conversations, and push to continue to grow and improve?
