June is the month where Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
(LGBT) people recognize the beginning of the LGBT Equality Movement in New York City. In June
1969, after yet another police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a local New York City
gay bar, a group of LGBT citizens and their allies held a series of protests
against the abusive raids, igniting the movement.
The LGBT Employee Resource Group here at Dell called PRIDE,
celebrated June LGBT Pride month by hosting a speaker event featuring Fort
Worth Council Member, Joel Burns, and Atticus Circlefounder, Anne Wynne, to talk about bullying. The event was moderated by Paul
Bell, president of our public and large enterprise business. As part of the
event, we debuted our anti-bullying video as part of the “It Gets Better”
Project, an anti-bullying campaign started by Dan Savage. The video
features several Dell team members and is a message to LGBT youth that there is
support all around. It also provides the link and phone number to The Trevor
Project, a nationwide LGBT suicide prevention hotline.
It personally means a great deal to me that Dell team members
opened up about their own struggles growing up and that Dell utilized its
resources and technology to put together the video. I’ve received great
comments from friends around the country about the video, and I am proud to
have participated in the project.