On Wednesday, 25 September, the Drinks Association’s Pride in Drinks Industry Resource Group held its second virtual event of the year, titled ‘How to be an active ally’. Guest speaker Nita Mannering, Relationship Manager at Pride in Diversity, led the session, discussing the significance of being an active ally and offering insights on how the drinks industry can authentically support its Pride community.
Pride in Drinks representative Celest Kenny, Head of Marketing Connections at Pernod Ricard, introduced the session. She said, “I’m very excited to be introducing you to Nita who will be facilitating this event. Back in June, we did an in-person Pride in Drinks event where we had lots of feedback from our guests that training and education, particularly around allyship, would be beneficial for individuals as well as businesses. So in response, this session is the first cab off the rank.”
Mannering commenced the session by saying, “Today's session is about empowering allies. If you have joined today as community members or you're just here to learn a bit more about how to better support the LGBTQ+ community, I hope you leave today feeling really empowered and educated to combat homophobia, transphobia, and biphobia in the workplace and beyond.”
An active ally according to Mannering, is someone who actively (not passively) supports an inclusive workplace culture for employees of diverse sexuality or gender. It encompasses non-LGBTQ allies as well as those within the LGBTQ community who support each other.
She said: “It's all well and good to have no problem with the LGBTQ+ community within the four walls of your mind, but if you're not visible, vocal and active, unfortunately, those good intentions more or less go to waste.”
In her presentation, Mannering talked through negative scenarios that can come up in the workplace relating to the pride community and provided some language around how individuals can respond to and address these situations.
She also explained that a key aspect of being an active ally is being mindful of and using inclusive language that is gender-neutral.
“Instead of opening a meeting or an event with ladies and gentlemen, we could use something more inclusive like ‘hey everyone’, ‘hey team’, ‘hey folks’, ‘hey gang’. Find an inclusive alternative that suits your work environment and model that,” said Mannering.
Mannering was asked by an attendee about who she believes is the most active ally in the community and why they are inspiring. She responded that she was very inspired by the AWEI Ally Award Winner Anthony Massaro who started a support network for parents of LGBTQ+ children at his organisation. He wanted to support rainbow parents be the best possible allies to their kids and be empowered to educate their social circles about LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Following the event, Mannering shared some practical tips with all registered attendees aimed at empowering participants to become more visible, vocal, and active allies to the LGBTQ+ community.
The post-event communication also referenced Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI) employee data survey that revealed:
- Active allies have a positive impact on LGBTQ+ employees’ sense of belonging at work
- Being an active ally is contagious (in a good way), as visible allies in the workplace inspire others to become more active
- Organisations that have resources and training available on how to be an active ally have a higher percentage of staff who identify as active allies
- The number one thing that LGBTQ+ employees want from our non-LGBTQ+ allies is to call out harmful behaviour when we aren’t in the room
To access the full recording click here
About the speaker
Nita Mannering is a Relationship Manager at Pride in Diversity where she delivers workplace LGBTQIA+ Inclusion Training to corporate members around the state. Before her current role, Nita was actively involved in Pride network activities at MetLife and MLC, which included fundraising and spreading awareness for days of significance like IDAHOBIT, Wear It Purple Day and World AIDS Day. She also co-authored the MetLife Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policy in collaboration with colleagues from other streams of the DE&I committee.
The purpose of Pride in Drinks is to be the leading body in the drinks industry for the LGBTQIA+ community and champion inclusion and diversity through education, advocacy and awareness so that everyone can be their best authentic selves.