Sealed with Pride
Amazon’s iconic boxes have had a glow up for the next month and will be sealed with rainbow tape, as Amazon Australia celebrates Pride. The tape proudly displays the Progress Pride Flag with 11 colours representing the LGBTQIA+ community with black and brown stripes to represent marginalised LGBTQIA+ communities of colour, along with the colours pink, light blue and white, which are used on the Transgender Pride Flag. It is just one small, but symbolic statement Amazon Australia is making to demonstrate its commitment to creating a place where people from diverse backgrounds, with unique perspectives and unconventional ideas, come together to invent and innovate on behalf of customers.
Amazon Australia’s Senior Business Partner of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and leader of employee LGBTQIA+ affinity group, Glamazon, Katie Daly said, “For me the Pride tape is really meaningful. It makes me proud to see Amazon Australia publicly show its support for LGBTQIA+ communities. And it’s just the start of our celebrations!”
Celebrating with Pride
There are dozens of activities and events planned across the coming months to celebrate Pride in Australia with employees and the community. Glamazon, was a major sponsor of Melbourne’s iconic Midsumma Festival 2023, where employees proudly represented the Amazon affinity group in the parade and at a stall during the Midsumma Carnival. Amazon Prime Video will also showcase the best of its LGBTQIA+ films, documentaries and specials as a major partner of Queer Screen’s Mardi Gras Film Festival from 15 February.
Amazon fulfilment centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth will air the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade live on 25 February for thousands of associates at its sites. Amazonians across the country will also attend events on 27 February to recognise Pride.
Pride in our progress
Katie said “Amazon Australia is definitely diverse, and it’s getting better at being inclusive. It’s important that everyone can bring their true self to work and by creating an environment built on trust and empathy, we want everyone working here to feel comfortable to be their authentic self. I’m proud of the progress we’ve made and excited to be part of the journey for our business as we continue to work on this commitment to our employees and the larger community. And what better time to celebrate progress with our team than during Pride?”
Amazon Australia was last year recognised by the Australian Workplace Equality Index with Bronze Employer status after a team from employee advocacy group Glamazon documented the work being done to improve and promote inclusivity.
“It was fantastic recognition and validation that we were going in the right direction,” explains Katie, who is proud of how much support Amazon has given to LGBTQIA+ communities and organisations on an ongoing basis.
Pride in inclusive policies
Amazon Australia has recently taken important steps to promote LGBTQIA+ inclusivity through different measures and policies for its employees, including a Same Gender Partner Coverage Program, and an inclusive Parental Leave Policy.
The Same Gender Partner Coverage Program helps employees enrol their same-sex partner in their health insurance, which eligible employees can choose to access at a subsidy. Amazon Australia has also recently updated its Parental Leave Policy, which gives eligible employees – regardless of gender – equal access to paid parental leave benefits, including adoption and surrogacy cases.
Amazon Software Development Manager, Josh Starkweather, who will soon welcome his first son via surrogacy with his husband, is over the moon that Amazon Australia has updated its Parental Leave Policy to be even more inclusive, and led the Glamazon move to have the policy updated.
“The global policy was already updated to be gender neutral and specifically included adoption and surrogacy as part of the entitlements. It did not make a distinction on whether you are a man or a woman,” he says, adding that when he highlighted this he found support from all levels of management in Amazon, not least of all the support he has received on his surrogacy journey.
“It’s so important for us to get out there and be proud of how accepting Amazon is for other people,” he says. “It allows others in the industry to know that this is a safe place to come and be yourself. We just want people to be able to bring their authentic selves to work every day and not have a worry or concern that’s distracting them from doing the awesome things we do here.”
Pride in supporting the LGBTQIA+ community
Glamazon, Amazon’s LGBTQIA+ affinity group provides support and a network for those in the community and their allies, and has over 100 chapters in countries around the world helping to educate and inform employees about Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQIA+) issues.
Last year, Glamazon sponsored Midsumma Festival, QueerScreen Mardi Gras Film Festival, and the Clifford Chance PrideArt Exhibition, and made donations to the Aurora Group, Twenty10 and Minus18, plus supported Wear It Purple.
"That spirit of the community has been fantastic, and I’m super proud of what we are achieving this year,” smiles Katie, who says Amazon sites across the nation will celebrate Pride across February and March with over 25 events, including everything from listen and learn sessions to morning teas.
Customers celebrating can head to the Pride Store and take advantage of fashion, beauty and entertainment products curated by Glamazon.
Learn more about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Amazon here
