Celebrating Pride
By: Michelle A. Banks, Kohl’s Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer
Pride Month is officially here, and I am thrilled to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community. As we use this month to embrace love in all forms, we simultaneously create more spaces for members of the LGBTQIA+ community to live out loud.
I’m excited about our latest Pride capsule collection – a mix of products with bright colors, patterns and categories meant to encourage authenticity, love and acceptance and designed by and for the community and its allies. And once again, I’m proud to share that Kohl’s is donating $100,000 to The Trevor Project to support its free confidential crisis counseling this year. It’s a critical resource for LGBTQIA+ youth.
Kohl’s has a long history of supporting the LGBTQIA+ community, as one more way we strive to create an inclusive and welcoming culture where all of our associates feel valued and respected, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Kohl’s Pride Business Resource Group (BRG) plays an integral role in this. Our Pride BRG supports our LGBTQIA+ associates and is an invaluable part of our welcoming and inclusive culture. I was able to catch up with a few members of our Pride BRG, including Paulina Garcia Morones (She/Her) and Matt McFall (He/Him), to hear how they are celebrating and what LGBTQIA+ allies can do to support all year long. Keep reading to learn more about this important month and community.
Paulina Garcia Morones (She/Her), Kohl’s Senior Benefits Analyst
What does Pride Month mean to you?
Pride month is the time of year when our community is in the spotlight to celebrate the progress made throughout the years. All who identify within the LGBTQIA+ community unite to remember and honor what others did in the past to get us where we are today. Our elders can inspire us to continue working for equity, acceptance, and belonging for all.
Our elders can inspire us to continue working for equity, acceptance, and belonging for all. Pride month is an opportunity to recharge and come together to show pride, strength, and love.
How will you be celebrating Pride this year?
This year, during pride, I plan to spend time with my wife and our son and prepare for our daughter's birth later this summer. I’ll attend the Milwaukee Pride Parade with my chosen family and my sister, who is an incredibly supportive ally.
How can people support the LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month and throughout the year?
The first step to supporting the LGBTQIA+ community is acceptance, and the second is advocacy. Accepting people as they are, who they love, how they show up, etc. We are all different, and those in the community may not have the support of their family, friends, or workplace. The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization focused on suicide prevention efforts in the LGBTQIA+ community, put out a study in 2023 that states that acceptance from adults is associated with lower rates of suicide attempts among LGBTQ+ young people. As for advocacy, we are at a time when being an ally is not enough. Advocacy calls for action. You can support by working to advance fairness, safety, and opportunity for the community. It can be as simple as creating a safe workplace or neighborhood space, suggesting an inclusive benefit to your employer, or joining an Employee Resource Group.
Those who don't know you very well would be surprised to learn that…
I’ve always loved playing soccer since the age of 4. My college career was spent studying, training, and winning games. Being a part of such a successful soccer team in college taught me the skills of teamwork that I am proud to bring to Kohl’s today!
Matt McFall (He/Him) Kohl’s Manager of Account Production
What does Pride Month mean to you?
Pride Month is incredibly important to me. It's a time to consider and celebrate our rich LQBTGIA+ history. It's been over 50 years since the Stonewall Riots. We've seen amazing things like Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, and openly LGBTGIA+ folks proudly claim important spaces in politics and entertainment.
Pride Month is a time to reflect on the successes as much as the challenges we still have ahead.
How will you be celebrating Pride this year?
My husband Karl and I are filled with excitement and gratitude that this year, we are celebrating Pride with the newest addition to our family, our son, David.
How can people support the LGBTQIA+ community during Pride Month and throughout the year?
Pride Month should remind everyone that allyship is year-round. Parades and celebrations are so much fun. But allyship extends to how you move through the world. It's the choices you make each day. You show LGBTQIA+ allyship by where you choose to spend your money and not spend your money. The stores you shop at, the restaurants you eat at, the events you attend, and the charities you choose to donate to. These are big ways to support the community all year long.
Those who don't know you very well would be surprised to learn that…
I'm an avid yogi and a yoga teacher. I stayed in the Peruvian Andes at a yoga shala for four weeks for my Yoga Teacher Training.
Join us in waving your Progress Pride flags this month to commemorate this special moment and celebrate the impact the LGBTQIA+ community has had on the world.
Michelle A. Banks
