Inside Sony Music
- Sony Music Group Celebrates Pride Month ‘22
- Jun 30, 2022
All of our many experiences and identities make us unique and individual. This June, we honored community and intersectionality as we encouraged our teammates to transcend individual differences to unite and show our pride together. That’s why all divisions within the Sony enterprise—including Sony Music Group—have embraced “Transcendence” as their global Pride theme.
Below, read about how Pride Month came together at Sony Music Group.
Designing the Theme
This month, Sony Music Group collaborated with our partner GLAAD, the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) media advocacy organization, to develop a fresh and innovative design to bring the Pride theme to life. During the design process, GLAAD provided counsel on ways to represent the LGBTQ+ community in an inclusive way. As a result, Sony Music Group wove the colors of the Progress Pride flag into our materials to highlight the intersectionality and evolution of the LGBTQ+ community.
“GLAAD informed our team that the Progress Pride flag was created as an intentional move to center the historically excluded within the LGBTQ+ community, specifically people of color and transgender individuals,” said Madilyne Nguyen-Acosta, Diversity Equity & Inclusion Specialist at Sony Music Group. “The meaning behind the colors and symbols on the Progress Pride Flag were a perfect fit for our vision to celebrate Pride at Sony Music, so we added black, brown, pink, white and blue along with the traditional Pride rainbow colors.”
Getting Loud and Proud at Sony Music Group
Sony Music Group organized a variety of events and activities throughout the month to celebrate Pride. Since June is also Black Music Month in the United States, OutLoud and HUE (Helping Unite Everyone)—two Talent Advisory Groups (TAGs) at Sony Music Group—collaborated to host an internal conversation about the influence of Black music in queer ballroom culture. Listen in to the few soundbites we collected from ballroom experts Yif Chen, Lolita Leopard and ICONICK.
And, for the first time ever, teammates from all Sony groups—including Sony Music Group, Sony Electronics, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Crunchyroll—had the opportunity to unite and march in the 52nd Annual Los Angeles Pride Parade, which also featured special performances from Sony Music artists Syd (Columbia Records) and Christina Aguilera (RCA Records). Take a look:
We’d like to thank all the individuals and organizations—both inside and outside of the Sony enterprise—who lent their time, wisdom and talents to celebrate Pride Month with us:
- ICONICK, Rapper and House Mother of the House of Juicy Couture
- Joseph Zolobczuk, Executive Director of the YES Institute
- Lolita Leopard, Hairstylist, Performer, Model, Youth Advocate and Member of the House of Juicy Couture and House of Mugler
- Rileyy Lanez, singer and songwriter
- Ross Murray, Vice President of the GLAAD Media Institute
- Scott Schofield, Senior Consultant, GLAAD Media Institute
- Yif Chen, Marketer, Dancer and Member of the House of Juicy Couture and House of Mugler
And, to our Talent Advisory Groups OutLoud, HUE (Helping Unite Everyone) and SOMOS, thank you for coordinating several employee-focused events this month to enrich the Pride Month at Sony Music Group experience, including the annual SMG Pride Party at our New York City office.
Supporting the LGBTQ+ Community Beyond June
In the midst of our many celebrations this month, we are keenly aware of the work that remains and the actions we can take to advance and support LGBTQ+ equality. In a conversation with GLAAD, Ross Murray shared that in 2022 alone, there have been more than 260 anti-LGBTQ+ bills filed in state legislatures around the country, so it is important that everyone votes to impact change.
“Voting plays a huge part—the more local, the more impact there is on people’s lives,” he explained. “But beyond just voting, it is important to know what the people you’re voting for support, what their actions have been and what they’re going to do in the future, and then finding ways to speak out about that.”
Earlier this year, Sony Music Group launched a new multi-tier partnership with GLAAD to advance LGBTQ+ advocacy and inclusion at SMG and within the broader music industry. Check out the SMG x GLAAD announcement to learn more.
Through our Global Social Justice Fund (SJF), we continue to support organizations committed to LGBTQ+ advocacy, such as the Marsha P. Johnson Institute (MPJI.) As one of SMG’s SJF grantee partners, MPJI is dedicated to protecting and defending the human rights of the Black transgender community.
“Our programs elevate and support the Black trans community in various ways, including direct-cash assistance, distribution of basic necessities and paid fellowships to uplift Black trans creatives. We support our community by organizing, advocating, creating an intentional space to heal and promoting our collective power,” according to Gaylon Alcaraz, Director of Operations for MPJI. “Our organization has benefited from the Social Justice Fund through the support of MPJI’s resource map, a vital tool to connect the Black trans with essential resources across the nation.”
