This summer we celebrate Pride in full colour

July 12, 2017

Proudly supporting over 100 LGBTQ organizations and 63 Pride Festivals across North America, it’s no secret that we wear our hearts (and rainbows) on our sleeves at TD.

A couple of weeks ago, TD employees joined Toronto to celebrate love and equality at the Pride Toronto festival. Among the 250+ employee volunteers (not to mention the support of TD colleagues who celebrated alongside them as attendees) hundreds of hours were logged in support of Pride.

This year, we heard from two employee attendees about their experiences at Pride:

First, we heard from Al Ramsay on his experience as a 13 year TD Pride veteran.

Al, National Manager of LGBTA Business Development, joined TD back in 2005 where he made it a personal and professional goal to increase TD’s profile in the LGBT community. From LGBT ads, to Pride sponsorship, to gender-neutral restrooms in our new and renovated branches across North America, Al and his colleagues have made impactful changes on TD’s journey to inclusivity and diversity. As someone who was out and proud at TD long before he came out of the ‘closet’ at home, Al shares his unique #foreverproud experience in his blog “13 Years a TD Pride Veteran and #foreverproud“.

Next, Yahong Chi shares her story as a first time Pride-goer and new addition to the TD family.

Yahong joins us for the summer from McGill University, as she works toward her Bachelor of Commerce degree from Desautels Faculty of Management. As a Digital Accessibility Intern, Yahong supports the Digital Accessibility team in communicating, consulting and advising on accessibility for TD’s various Digital Channels’ projects. In her blog “Pride 2017: Dykes on bikes and an orange “BI” sticker,” Yahong shares her first Pride experience where she marched as a proud TD volunteer in the Toronto Dyke March.

While Pride is a unique experience for everyone, these two stories share common and powerful themes about inclusion and diversity at TD:

At TD, we encourage and empower our colleagues to get involved in the causes they care about.
At TD, we’re dedicated to building an inclusive environment where we can all bring our whole selves to work.
At TD, we’re focused on building a legacy to be proud of through our longstanding commitment to the LGBTQ community.

At TD, we are, and always will be, #foreverproud!