Pride 2023 – how we celebrated around the world

Members of Diageo Central America and Caribbean took part in Panama's Pride Parade in Panama City's Old Town. It was the first time that any of the CCA offices had participated in the event, with Diageo also sponsoring the Parade which saw over 15,000 people take part.

Our Global HQ in London hosted a panel for employees, welcoming Lady Phyll (co-founder of UK Black Pride and executive director of Kaleidoscope Trust), Lewis Corner (Editorial Director of GAY TIMES) and Joe Galliano (Director and Co-Founder of Queer Britain) to discuss the importance of queer spaces. The event was organized by the Rainbow Network in collaboration with Diageo's Race, Ethnicity and Cultural Heritage (REACH) network.

Our colleagues in APAC witnessed some incredible Pride engagements, many of which were organised by our newly created Southeast Asia Rainbow Network. This included a ‘QUEENS FOR THE NIGHT’ event in Bangkok, Thailand, where colleagues and guests enjoyed live music, dancing, and lip-syncing as well as enjoying custom-Pride drinks.

Smirnoff continued its support of the LGBTQIA+ community by sponsoring several parades and celebrations across the United States, including a wrapped double-decker bus at Chicago Pride Parade.

Saturday the 24th of June saw Johnnie Walker Princes Street as the lead sponsor of Edinburgh Pride, the longest-running free celebration of the LGBTQIA+ community in Scotland. As well as a parade through the streets of Edinburgh, our flagship Johnnie Walker experience centre hosted a variety of activities throughout the day.

In May last year, Diageo partnered with the UK's first LGBTQ+ museum ‘Queer Britain’, with the goal to help preserve and celebrate the legacy of queer community. Queer Britain hosted several events this year during Pride Month, including a three-day Queer Market at Canopy Market.

We sat down with colleagues Alistair Scotland and Carlos Esquivel, who discussed their individual experiences of taking Diageo’s industry-leading parental leave as members of the LGBTQIA+ community. You can read more here.