“Pride Is About Celebrating My Community and Myself” an Interview With Jonathan Lee

Jonathan Lee, Senior Consultant at Oliver Wyman spoke to myGwork, discussing what pride means to him, and why he’s choosing to celebrate himself and his community.

Can you tell us a bit more about yourself?

My name is Jonathan Lee, and I’m a senior consultant at Oliver Wyman (OW). I am also involved with inclusion & diversity at OW and serve as one of the co-lead for the New York chapter of OW’s LGBTQ+ ERG.

What does Pride mean to you?

For me, Pride is about celebrating my community and myself. At Pride, I’m surrounded by people who identify similarly and have faced a shared set of challenges / experiences. Every year, it feels a little bit surreal to me how we’ve all overcome so much and have managed to carve out space for ourselves. It’s empowering to feel like I can fully be myself and to know that I’m a part of something bigger than just myself both at the same.

What was the first pride you attended? How have things changed since then for the LGBTQ+ community?

My first pride was fairly recent — 2016. However, it was the day after the Pulse nightclub shooting. I remember seeing the news in the morning and making the active decision to still go to Pride despite all of the feelings I was experiencing and the warnings of potential follow-up attacks. It made it feel even more powerful to be choosing to celebrate myself and my community’s history. At Pride, I felt such a strong sense of solidarity with the crowd that I had never felt before. I still feel that solidarity every year at Pride. Since then, I also feel that Pride has become more and more visible to allies and that there has been a continued push for greater inclusivity. It’s only been only a few years since my first Pride, but I don’t remember seeing the level of self-reflection and internal discourse within the LGBTQ+ community that we have now.

What advice would you give to someone attending Pride for the first time?

Go with a group of LGBTQ+ people (regardless of whether you identify as LGBTQ+ or an ally)! It’ll make it all the more fun and meaningful for you and everyone else. I also think it’s important to reflect on the challenges that the LGBTQ+ community has had to overcome and those it continues to face. It’s easy to get lost in the loud music and decked-out floats, but it’s more than just a big party!

What can we all do to make sure Pride is inclusive for all LGBTQ+ people?

The LGBTQ+ community covers such a broad spectrum of sexual and gender identities as well as intersectional identities. Often, it feels like one type of image is centered and mass-marketed for Pride. I think it’s important for the LGBTQ+ community to actively seek to shift away from this narrative and work to have more comprehensive/inclusive representation in media, LGBTQ+ leadership, culturally competent education, and more. We also need to recognize that inequality very much exists within the LGBTQ+ community and that should be unflinching in calling it out.

Do you think it’s important for organisations to celebrate Pride?

I think that celebrating Pride is just one piece in how organizations can demonstrate their commitment to LGBTQ+ visibility and showing that they care for their LGBTQ+ colleagues. It sends a message to candidates/colleagues and can entirely influence their lives and career trajectories. I actually came out after attending a Pride business conference as an undergraduate in college. It was my first time seeing out LGBTQ+ professionals who were successful in a field I wanted to enter, and it made me feel like I could actually have a future. I also definitely took note of which organizations were actively involved with the conference when it came time for me to find a job!