Auckland Pride Month is in full swing and, to celebrate and bring awareness to this, TwentyTwo has reaffirmed its commitment to an inclusive and diverse workplace and acceptance of the LGBTTQIA+ community. 

This month is all about celebrating diversity and doing our part in creating a more inclusive and accepting property industry (and society!).

To further improve our Rainbow acumen, the first round of TwentyTwo staff took part in rainbow awareness training through the Pride Pledge earlier this month. This training helps equip staff with the basic tools when encountering an array of people, situations and topics and aims to improve the understanding of our diverse rainbow communities.

One insight Pride Pledge’s George Fowler shared that I found interesting is that the second ’T’ of LGBTTQIA+ is completely unique to Aotearoa, standing for ‘Takatāpui’. ‘Takatāpui’ is a traditional Māori term meaning ‘intimate companion of the same sex’ and has been reclaimed to embrace all Māori who identify with diverse sexes, genders and sexualities.

As part of Pride celebrations, I also sat down with TwentyTwo’s Directors to identify why taking the Pride Pledge was important to them and the TwentyTwo Tribe and the vision for the business in 2023 and beyond.

There’s been a huge range of events in Auckland this month from parades to workshops and panel discussions. If you’re quick, you can catch the last of them before the Auckland Pride Festival wraps up on 26 February. The rest of the country is set to follow with both Wellington and Christchurch hosting their Pride events in March.