American Taboo: A Foreigner’s Guide to America Danielle Allen

Why are there rainbows everywhere?  

What is Pride Month? 

How do we avoid getting sucked into "Rainbow Capitalism?" 



We're tackling all these questions in Episode 2 of American Taboo. From the foreigners perspective, Pride Month seems like... "a lot". We'll be unpacking what it is, where it came from, and how you can build better workplace cultures for every member of your team. 



Podcast Vocabulary: 

LGBTQ: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer; an acronym that encompasses the the broader community of individuals with varying gender identity and sexual orientation

Pride Month: The month of June dedicated to celebrating the LGBTQ community originating from the Stonewall Riots in 1969

Stonewall Riots: A series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City

Rainbow Capitalism: A term used to describe marketplace trends that revolve around selling rainbow themed products around Pride Month to increase overall sales with little regard for supporting policies and LGBTQ causes

Equality Measures: Workplace laws, rules, benefits, and trainings that address systemic

Prop 8 (Proposition 8): An amendment brought up by the State of California as a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage -- later denied in the Supreme Court. and gave same-sex couples the right to be married

(Pride) Merch: Merchandise and products like t-shirts, bumper stickers, mugs, wall art that are produced around LGBTQ themes and colors

Gendered Language: Language that assumes gender identity or sexual orientation 

(Use: your partner, your spouse instead of your boyfriend/girlfriend, your wife/husband)

Melting Pot: The idea that America has a diverse set of cultures, traditions, foods, and customs that have blended or "melted" together as a result of being in the same workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities 

Sonic: A fast-food restaurant with delightfully sugary drinks and curb-side service with over 125,000 drink combinations 

Allyship: The practice of emphasizing social justice, inclusion, and human rights by members of an ingroup, to advance the interests of an oppressed or marginalized outgroup.

Inclusion: The practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized

Death spiral: Used in reference to a rapidly worsening situation, typically one that ends in disaster

Work culture/company culture:a set of shared values, goals, attitudes and practices that characterize an organization; how a workplace or company behaves and treats its employees 



Resources: 

https://www.hrc.org/resources/corporate-equality-index

https://www.fastcompany.com/3051850/these-are-the-most-and-least-lgbt-friendly-workplaces-in-the-us

Does the impossible task of going back to work in-person, seeing people without masks, and being in crowds give you anxiety? 

PERFECT!

This episode goes out to all the people out there trying to get back to normal after our normal has been absolutely decimated the last year. We're diving into American culture as it relates to mask vs no mask; grocery store anxiety, the problems with social isolation, why you can't tell Americans what to do, and what this all means as we transition back into our "normal" activities.