Vodafone New Zealand supports Pride Month 2020

Vodafone is rallying behind Pride Month this February, with at least 300 members and allies gathering in support of Big Gay Out next week.

Those members and allies are part of the company's Rainbow Whānau, who will also support the Wellington Pride Youth Ball at the end of February.

The Rainbow Whānau along with the company's social channels will have a more LGBTQI+ inclusive presence through activities and initiatives they are proud of on Instagram, Snapchat and the Vodafone New Zealand Facebook page.

"This Pride Month we are proud to share what we do all year round to make our company inclusive of all gender identities and sexualities in Aotearoa," says Vodafone New Zealand Rainbow Whānau chairperson, Darren Mendosa.

"Businesses have an important role to play in fostering social change, and that begins with our people being able to be their authentic selves at work. I'm incredibly grateful and proud to be part of an organisation whose leadership empowers us to make decisions, have thought-provoking conversations and create change through gender pronoun recognition on our work signatures, lunch and learn sessions and our quarterly LGBTQI+ focused newsletter, Rainbow Quarterly.

Vodafone NZ and the Rainbow Whānau have recently started a quarterly LGBTQI+ focused newsletter, Rainbow Quarterly written by staff for staff.

Rainbow Whānau lead and Rainbow Quarterly editor of Rainbow Quarterly editor Hannah Copeland says, "I'm incredibly grateful to be supported and encouraged to work on passion projects like the Rainbow Quarterly by my team at Vodafone. The Rainbow Quarterly is a fun way to raise visibility of LGBTQI+ all year round and share our community with our colleagues and allies. The internal reaction to the first and second issues has been overwhelmingly positive which has been amazing."
 
Vodafone has a zero tolerance stance for discrimination based on gender identity or sexuality, and works closely with leading diversity and inclusion organisations including InsideOUT, Rainbow Tick and Diversity Works NZ on the development of materials and programmes for each of its initiatives. This deeply embedded culture of inclusion that values and leverages the diversity of its people allows Vodafone to better serve its customers and community.

The Rainbow Whānau is also welcoming staff and customers this month with a rainbow crossing which has been installed in front of the company's head office in Auckland, and similar crossings and decals in other offices in Christchurch and Wellington.

Vodafone's Rainbow Whānau committee started in 2015 and runs Vodafone's LGBTQI+ activities with support from the executive team and other stakeholders across the business.