2024 Outie Awards Nominees

Deloitte has been at the vanguard of workplace inclusion since the launch of one of its first business resource groups, now known as the LGBTQIA+ & Allies Community, nearly 30 years ago. Along with providing professionals an opportunity to connect on shared identity and allyship, Deloitte’s LGBTQIA+ & Allies Community helps shape the organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion approach to enhancing processes, policies, and benefits, which include the expansion of transgender healthcare benefits and tax equalization for domestic partners. Since 2021, Deloitte annually publishes its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Transparency Report, which aims to foster transparency and trust within Deloitte’s people and communities and highlights Deloitte’s progress as they strive for transformational change in overall workforce representation and in leadership roles. Deloitte also extends its reach and amplifies its impact through its collaborations with organizations championing LGBTQIA+ workplace equality, including Out & Equal, The Human Rights Campaign, Lesbians Who Tech, and Out for Undergrad (O4U), to name a few.

Professional Services firm Ernst & Young LLP (EY US) believes that diverse perspectives, combined with an inclusive culture and equitable opportunities, drive better decision-making, stimulate innovation, increase organizational agility and strengthen resilience to disruption. With the formation of its business resource group, Unity, in 2004, EY US has demonstrated two decades of consistently evolving leadership in LGBTQ+ workplace inclusion both inside and outside its business. Its Pathways to Parenthood and Pathways to Transition programs, for instance, help employees with expenses related to infertility, surrogacy, adoption, and gender affirming care. The organization regularly shares its rich insights on workplace inclusion at workshops, conferences, and in direct advisory engagements with companies developing their own inclusion initiatives. And EY US uses its corporate voice to influence the public dialogue, making the business case for LGBTQ+ inclusion at the World Economic Forum as a founding member of the Partnership for Global LGBTIQ+ Equality (PGLE), and developing thought leadership with the 2024 EY US LGBTQ+ Workplace Barometer. 

In Latin American-based Mattos Filho’s own words, the organization stands for democratic access to justice and the defense of fundamental rights in a region where LGBTQ+ rights are uneven, providing pro bono legal services to civil society organizations that support LGBTQ+ individuals. Internally, Mattos Filoh’s LGBTQ+ affinity group, Mfriendly, was recognized as Affinity Group of the Year in 2017 by Latin Lawyer, the definitive source of news and analysis for the Latin American legal community. Among its notable accomplishments in support of LGBTQ+ rights, Mattos Filho developed resources on issues impacting LGBTQ+ people, including name rectification for transgender people and legal issues affecting LGBTQIAPN+ families. It’s innovative parental leave policy guarantees six months of paid leave for primary caregivers and two months for secondary caregivers of a LGBTQIAPN+ families. Mattos Filho also adheres to the United Nations Standards of Conduct for Business and has an internal ombudsman to maintain open lines of communication between employees and leadership regarding its internal code of ethics and Conduct.

Launched in 2015, Advocate Health’s employee resource group (ERG) EQualityOne System Resource Group—or EQ1 for short—underpins the organization’s healthcare mission by promoting psychological safety and a sense of belonging not only for its direct caregivers but for all employees through education; by advancing allyship and fostering intersectional awareness and inclusion; and through visible, organization-wide events such as Transgender Day of Remembrance, which draws hundreds of employee participants. Of Advocate Health’s 69 hospitals, 44 have been designated Top Performers/Leaders based on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Healthcare Equality Index, a benchmarking tool that promotes equitable and inclusive healthcare for LGBTQ+ people and their families. EQ1’s membership reflects the organization’s overall diversity on multiple dimensions, including race, generation, sexual orientation, gender identification, and level within the Advocate Health organization and extends its reach outside of the Advocate Health ecosystem by volunteering on boards of LGBTQ+ organizations; participating in Pride and the local AIDS Walk; and by supporting the nonprofit transgender organization Charlotte Trans Health, to name a few.  

Global Pride @ Kantar’s brings together LGBTQIA+ individuals and allies to drive change through education, celebration, and volunteerism. Members collaborated with DIVA magazine—reworking survey questions, analyzing data, and developing findings—on the 2024 DIVA Report, which was released at the magazine’s UK and US Lesbian Visibility Week events emphasizes actionable insights for change. Global Pride@Kantar created an external guide to promote genuine LGBTQIA+ allyship and assist brands and businesses on their journey to authentic allyship year-round and hosted a global client webinar highlighting insights from the ERGs partnerships with GLAAD and DIVA on brand allyship. It’s Safe Space Sessions engage more than 250 LGBTQIA+ participants in a supportive environment for open dialogue. As part of its Tech Inclusion Partnership, the ERG collaborates with Microsoft on an inclusion in technology series, as one of the first to activate pronoun functionality and in bridging intersections with other ERGs. And its members actively support fundraising efforts for  the global Elton John Aids Foundation. 

 Four years ago, amid a pandemic and in the spirit of building community, ABC News and ABC-owned stations banded together to form PRIDE@ABC News + OTV, the organization’s first employee resource group (ERG) for LGBTQ+ journalists. Since then, PRIDE@ABC News + OTV has used and continues to use its enviable platform to promote the necessary public conversation on LGBTQ+ inclusion and why it matters through the lens of its members’ collective lived experiences. The ERG created a rapid response task force for fair and accurate reporting on LGBTQ+ issues and has produced content focusing on intersectional conversations during various heritage months, including Black History Month, Latin American Heritage Month and Trans Day of Visibility in collaboration with other Disney ERGS. And its PRIDE 365 initiative tells positive, inspirational, and inclusive LGBTQ+ stories not only during Pride Month but throughout the year, giving LGBTQ+ and intersectional communities a seat at the table and impacting millions of viewers daily.  

Pride Poland, AXA XL’s business resource group (BRG), which supports LGBTQ+ colleagues, continues to thrive thanks to ongoing and growing support from colleagues and AXA XL leadership, including the BRG’s executive sponsors. Since forming, the group has advocated to expand LGBTQ+ inclusive employee benefits and provided staff training on LGBTQ+ issues such as LGBTQ+ rights, coming out, and bisexuality. In its community, Pride Poland has partnered with Kultura Równości (Equality Culture), a nongovernmental organization fighting for marriage equality in Poland, on its Equality March, Business Does Not Exclude initiative, and its Proud@Work network, uniting Wroclaw’s Pride Employee Resource Groups across companies in the region. Pride Poland has also sponsored the largest LGBTQ+ film festival in Eastern and Central Europe to promote workplaces of belonging where all employees feel free to live authentically and bring their whole selves to work. 

After returning to the office following the COVID shutdown, members of Bank of America’s burgeoning LGBTQ+ Pride Mexico employee resource group (ERG) chapter set out to grow its membership, build momentum, and champion a vision: dignity, respect, and allyship for all. The group focuses on strengthening community and encouraging in-person connections through LGBTQ+ training courses, developing guides for colleagues on navigating challenging times, and partnering with other ERGs to promote solidarity with those who face different forms of discrimination or marginalization. For instance, when the Bank of America Mexico team hired its first transgender team member, the group organized and, together with the LGBTQ+ Pride and LEAD for Women ERG chapters, co-hosted “TRANSmitting my Life Story: I am a TRANS woman” to raise awareness of the challenges they face as trans women and as members of the LGBTQ+ workforce and community. Bank of America Mexico also reaches outside to engage with other businesses and nonprofits to unify external groups as a force multiplier for LGBTQ+ rights and belonging in broader community.

Since launching in 2023, Southwest Airlines’ Out & Proud@SWA Employee Resource Group (ERG) has racked up a considerable list of accomplishments, including a 240% increase in membership; launched an Ambassador Program to create awareness, plan events, and solicit feedback from members across the country; grown members’ knowledge, increased their leadership skills, and extended their connections to other organizations by attending conferences, networking events, and hosting guest speakers; planned and participated in Pride parades in Dallas, Houston, and Denver; and donated more than 18,000 feminine hygiene products to shelters and charitable organizations as part of its Women’s History Month collaboration with Southwest’s Women@SWA ERG. Going forward, the group plans to continue promoting LGBTQ+ inclusion and belonging by hosting fun and informative events, engaging and listening to its members, and advocating for LGBTQ+ history, organizations, and causes.

Dr. Michael Kauth (he/him) is Executive Director of the LGBTQ+ Health Program for the Veteran’s Health Administration (VHA), which he co-created in 2012 and which focuses on improving policy, education, and the health care environment for veterans treated at the VHA. The list of Dr. Kauth’s accomplishments to propel LGBTQ+ inclusion is extensive. He created LGBTQ+ Veteran Care Coordinator positions at every VHA facility, prohibited in policy formal or informal attempts to convert sexual orientation or gender identity at VHA, established national policy that access to restrooms be based on gender identity not sex assigned at birth, and led creation of sexual orientation, gender identity, and preferred name fields in VHA record systems to improve the patient experience and support staff in making tailored clinical decisions. Dr. Kauth also developed a nationwide interdisciplinary consult program, supporting professionals seeking consultation on treatment planning for transgender and gender diverse Veterans and contributed to a policy to support gender transitioning in the workplace, including guidance for federal identification cards, displaying chosen name and pronouns in electronic communications, and online meeting applications.

One of the things his mentees will tell you about Gino Ramos (he/him)—affectionately known as “the Mayor of Salesforce” —is that that he leads with respect and humility and always sees you for who you are as a human first. His legacy of supporting LGBTQ+ inclusion dates back more than a decade when he co-founded Outforce, Salesforce’s first LGBTQ+ employee resource group, which embedded an LGBTQ+ inclusive lens across the employee lifecycle and experience at the organization. Today—having led the transformation from employee resource groups to business resource groups (BRG) to ensure each group is generating true impact on the employee experience—he oversees all 13 of the organization’s identity-based BRGs, facilitating regular intersectional events between the groups. Mr. Ramos also partners with LGBTQ+ groups across the tech industry to share best practices and drive inclusion and belonging across the industry. For the Mayor of Salesforce, his mentees will also tell you, the work of inclusion won’t be done until the most marginalized communities are treated equally. 

MITRE’s Stephanie Turner (she/her) has advocated for and influenced the implementation of inclusive policies such as nondiscrimination policies and expanded healthcare benefits to cover needs unique to LGBTQ+ individuals, including transition-related care and gender-affirming practices. As an LGBTQ+ leader herself, Ms. Turner has increased visibility and representation of LGBTQ+ individuals in leadership and decision-making roles throughout the organization. She has also championed the creation of safe spaces, for LGBTQ+ employees by elevating employee resource groups to business resource groups (BRGs). Thanks to her ability to align MITRE’s BRGs with core business operations and strategic objectives, these groups not only provide opportunities for networking, mentorship, and community building among LGBTQ+ employees and allies, they underscore the value of diversity and inclusion and increase MITRE’s capacity to innovate and adapt in competitive markets. Ms. Turner also makes broader impact in her role as co-chairwoman of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce DEI board of advisors, by leading its DEI research taskforce, and by sharing best practices as a frequent speaker at conferences and industry forums. 

Ellyn Shook (she/her) has never been one to shy from challenging the status quo, placing her at the forefront of driving far-reaching change, including LGBTQ+ focused efforts, at Accenture. In addition to sponsoring Accenture’s LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group, she instituted LGBTQ+ inclusive nondiscrimination policies, language, and practices across the organization, ensuring inclusive and equitable processes throughout Accenture operations.  

Among the many other LGBTQ+ inclusive practices and policies Ms. Shook has championed at Accenture, such as implementing LGBTQ+ employee data collection and data management practices in its human resources information systems, she created a global minimum standard for LGBTQ+ inclusive healthcare and benefits. Thanks to her leadership, Accenture has long provided its employees equal access to medical plans for same- and opposite-sex partners, fully WPATH compliant transgender-inclusive healthcare coverage, and equitable access to family support and family formation benefits for surrogacy, adoption, fertility, and parental leave.  

Committed to equitable LGBTQ+ leadership representation, she sponsored implementation of “L3—LGBTQ+ Leaders Learning,” a leadership development and pipeline program focused on preparing LGBTQ+ and active allies for representation across Accenture’s leadership levels. Ms. Shook is also a key driver of Accenture’s engagement in LGBTQ+ advocacy, collaborating with Accenture’s General Counsel and Government Affairs leaders to understand LGBTQ+ related legislation, the potential impact of laws and regulations on Accenture employees, and sponsoring the creation of a public policy advocacy playbook used to help Accenture understand when and how it will use its voice in the public sphere.  

Outside of Accenture, Ms. Shook pushes for continuous improvement, using her external influence to accelerate the pace of change more broadly. She is the Executive Co-chair for the Partnership for Global LGBTQ+ Equality, a coalition of the World Economic Forum, the United Nations (UN) Office of Civil and Human Rights, LGBTIQ+ civil society organizations, and leading corporations committed to leveraging their individual and collective advocacy to accelerate LGBTQ+ equality and inclusion globally and implementing the UN Standards of Conduct for Business. She also sits on the board of the HR Policy Association, Center on Executive Compensation serving as its Vice Chair and is an active member of the HR 50 division of World 50. 

As a cisgender, pansexual, Chinese woman who grew up in Hong Kong, resides in the United States, and chairs the HSBC US Pride ERG, Cindy Wong (she/her) embodies the principles of intersectional leadership, recognizing and deeply empathizing with the challenges faced by underrepresented groups within the LGBTQ+ community and beyond.  She leverages this empathy to champion LGBTQ+ inclusion and to navigate the complexities of driving change in a global organization like HSBC and the diverse social and political landscapes of the countries in which it operates. Demonstrating allyship within the community, her work at HSBC to advance inclusionary policies for LGBTQ+ and in particular transgender individuals has been impactful and transformational. As co-chair of HSBC’s Hong Kong Pride ERG from 2016 to 2019, she expanded the network from 250 to 2,500 members. During that time, she highlighted the importance of evolving HSBC’s policies to be more LGBTQ+ and more specifically transgender inclusive, which was crucial in driving long-term sustainable policy change. Upon identifying an opportunity to improve transgender benefits at the bank, Ms. Wong established the HSBC Global Transgender Benefits Working Group. She tailored business case to local contexts. Her dedication and effort led to transgender healthcare policy changes across multiple HSBC locations including the United Kingdom, Canada, the Philippines and India  

And her work is not done. Recognizing the importance of LGBTQ+ talent retention and promotion, earlier this year Ms. Wong established a working group to organize HSBC’s first Global LGBTQ+ Mentorship Program, connecting more than 200 LGBTQ+ junior talents and senior colleagues worldwide. Her passion for diversity, inclusion, equity, and belonging (DEIB) extends beyond the LGBTQ+ community. An advocate for gender balance, racial diversity, and wellbeing in the organization, she established the Global People Committee in her business unit, created diversity hiring prompts and DEIB goals, and organized a Global DEIB Week to foster a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

An intentional, action-oriented changemaker and role model who amplifies marginalized voices, Mike McDermott (he/him) plays a pivotal role advocating for LGBTQ+ inclusive policies, benefits, and leadership development at Pfizer, pushing for the implementation of LGBTQ+ inclusive policies, including on non-discrimination, equal benefits for same-sex partners, and gender transition support. Instrumental in championing Pfizer’s LGBTQ+ Employee Resource Group (ERG), Mr. McDermott has provided resources, guidance, and leadership to ensure that the ERG has a strong presence within the company and has supported its collaboration with and connection to other ERGs to promote intersectionality and inclusivity. He has also been a strong voice for LGBTQ+ training and education programs to increase awareness and understanding among employees, including initiatives that provide education on LGBTQ+ issues, terminology, and best practices for fostering an inclusive and respectful workplace environment—all of which are especially vital at Pfizer Global Supply sites located in non-LGBTQ+ friendly areas. Mr. McDermott also leverages Pfizer’s influence to support broader societal change by partnering with external organizations and advocacy groups that promote LGBTQ+ rights and workplace equality.