In the face of adversity, the ability to continue to move forward, inspire and spark change is something to celebrate. Even small change is hugely meaningful because progress often comes from small steps of affirmation, resistance and perhaps, even most importantly, celebration. That’s why the LGBTQIA+ communities at Microsoft centered our 2024 Pride campaign on the idea of “Radical joy.” The joy that radiates and inspires. The joy that is not dependent on outside forces but is within us and within our control, and when expressed, can help make change for all and inspire others to do the same. “Radical joy” is an anthem to those who thrive against all odds.
Discover everything Pride at unlocked.microsoft.com/pride.
Stories of joy
This year’s campaign is an ode to the strength and power of the LGBTQIA+ communities. The LGBTQIA+ community is the heart of this movement, and employees are the heart of Microsoft. Eight Microsoft employees shared their radical joy stories, reminding us of the why behind Pride and uniting us in furthering its mission.
Open source and spreading joy
“Radical joy” is grounded in inclusion and acceptance, values that are important for us at Microsoft. One of the many ways we are celebrating them at Pride is by highlighting the interconnected and intersectional nature of LGBTQIA+ communities. Our designs unite 74 flags representing different LGBTQIA+ identities through vibrant abstract shapes that nod to the joy and power that radiates from and through the community year-round. This year’s graphic expands representation to 25 new communities and is localized for use in 33 languages.
For the third year in a row, Microsoft invites everyone to spread LGBTQIA+ acceptance and inclusion by sharing stories, open sourcing the entire Pride campaign design to remix and share, as we have found time and time again, participation is key to the community and its allies. For the first time, this year, we invite you to leverage AI to create even more Pride by sharing your own stories with fast and easy AI-powered tools like Microsoft Designer and Clipchamp to make your own Pride stickers, social posts and more. In addition, we are making all Pride assets available on Figma and GitHub, where anyone can download and customize the campaign assets to spread joy this Pride. Microsoft and its employees invite everyone to visit Microsoft.com/pride to learn more and share on social by using #MicrosoftPride and #Pride. We look forward to seeing what you come up with!
Our pride collection
We are spreading joy across our products and platforms and have been since 2018. Discover how you can celebrate Pride and the power of LGBTQIA+ communities:
- Microsoft Unlocked – Unlock all things Pride at Microsoft.
- Open source – Microsoft Pride designs from this year and past years are available on GitHub and Figma for you to download, remix and customize.
- Microsoft Designer – Create and customize this year’s radical joy design for your own Pride graphics.
- Microsoft Designer templates – Discover and customize even more Pride-themed templates.
- Microsoft Designer sticker creator – Prompt AI to create custom stickers that reflect your joy and use them on your devices!
- GIPHY – Radical joy should be shared, and that is why we brought this year’s graphics to GIPHY, so you can share joyful GIFs across devices!
- Microsoft Teams – Download custom Teams backgrounds to spread joy during your video calls.
- Microsoft Edge themes – Light up your Edge experience with the new Pride theme.
- Windows wallpapers – Update your desktop with radical joy by downloading one of our custom wallpapers.
- Microsoft 365 apps theming – Turn on your Pride in select Microsoft 365 apps* and celebrate with a special theme inspired by the flags of the LGBTQIA+ communities.
- Clipchamp – Unleash your creativity on Clipchamp with Pride assets built straight into the product.
- Xbox – Learn about Xbox’s partnership with The Trevor Project, discover custom Pride art, purchase merch and more on Xbox Wire.
- Microsoft Store – Explore collections of curated games from LGBTQIA+ and transgender and non-binary
- Inclusion is Innovation – Explore LGBTQIA+ employee stories year-round.
Our commitment
We are continuing our longstanding efforts to financially contribute to nonprofits doing on-the-ground work to support LGBTQIA+ communities. This year, we are donating $200,000 to charities across the globe: The Trevor Project, Transconvida, ACCEPT ASOCIATIA and Transgender Law Center. Together with our employees, Microsoft has donated over $16 million to organizations that support LGBTQIA+ communities in the last 30 years, and in the last year alone, we donated over $1.3 million.
Our efforts to support and advocate for LGBTQIA+ people do not start or end at Pride. By supporting our employees through global advocacy, charitable giving and better workplace practices, we hope to make a difference for LGBTQIA+ communities and beyond, as our drive for positive global impact continues and celebrates our employees and what brings them, and their communities’ joy.
At Microsoft, we continue to leverage our platform year-round to support and learn from LGBTQIA+ communities and address issues that impact the lived experience, safety, and fundamental rights of employees and their communities around the world.
We know that there is still work to be done, as a brand and as a global society. While we celebrate our successes, we remain committed to making continued progress.
Standing up for LGBTQIA+ equity since 1989
Microsoft introduced sexual orientation into our non-discrimination policies in 1989 – and we have been driving toward LGBTQIA+ inclusion ever since. In 1993, we began offering employee benefits for same-sex domestic partnerships, making us one of the first companies in the world to do so. We stood as a public supporter for marriage equality even before it became legal in the United States – and we continue to advocate for every type of family. Microsoft has attained a 100 score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index for 18 years. Since its founding in 1993, GLEAM (Global LGBTQIA+ Employees & Allies at Microsoft) has honored Pride by lifting up LGBTQIA+ voices and used the reach of our products to share the messages of inclusion and support.
We invite everyone to join us in the call for making more Pride. Share your thoughts with us on social by using #MicrosoftPride and #Pride.
* “Show your Pride” theme is available in the following apps – iOS: Outlook, OneNote, Office, Word, Excel and PowerPoint; in Android: Outlook; in Mac OS: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote. In Outlook, you can find the Pride themes in Settings > Appearance In all other apps, you can find Pride theme in Settings.
