Pride@Lion – Lion’s group for LGBTIQA+ people and allies – is proud to announce that it is a corporate supporter of Wear It Purple, an organisation that strives to foster supportive, safe, empowering and inclusive environments for rainbow young people.

Pride@Lion was founded to build on Lion’s proud record of supporting and nurturing diversity and will focus on driving visibility for the LGBTIQA+ community across our company and promote an inclusive working environment that allows individuals to be their authentic selves.

To coincide with this year’s 10th annual Wear It Purple Day, and its first as a corporate supporter, Pride@Lion has enlisted Australian author and journalist and Wear It Purple ambassador Ben Law, best known for his books The Family Law and Gaysia: Adventures in the Queer East to host a special panel discussion with Lion team members globally to talk about the importance of fostering supportive, safe, empowering and inclusive environments for rainbow young people.

Ben Law said: “Many people mistakenly believe that now we have marriage equality in Australia, that everything’s now okay for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer and asexual (LGBTIQA+) Australians.

“But that’s not the case, especially for young people. With 2020 only compounding the pain many in our community already feel, Wear It Purple 2020 is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the diversity of our communities.”

2020 has been a challenging year for many, especially in the hospitality industry, and while Wear It Purple Day celebrations at Lion normally look a bit different, Pride@Lion is pleased to be launching a specially brewed purple beer across some of Lion’s venues around the world in August.

Lion’s Little Creatures venues in Australia, Asia and New Zealand will be proudly brewing it purple with a new Little Creatures release called Purple Pale Ale – a hazy pale ale with a natural purple hue from the addition of butterfly pea flower.

Co-founder and executive sponsor of Pride@Lion, Jane Hill said she was overwhelmed by the global response of Lion team members to be involved in the group.

“We’ve got members from all over our Lion network in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, USA and the UK– representing every part of our business, from sales, finance and marketing to brewing, packaging and logistics,” Hill said.

“Often it is a challenge to bring people together across different geographies, but since launching Pride@Lion this has happened really naturally and it speaks volumes about the strength of our culture, the passion of our people and how much we value inclusion and diversity across our company.”

Co-founder and executive sponsor of Pride@Lion Dan Holland added: “We are so pleased to formalise Pride@Lion by sponsoring Wear it Purple Day, which does such incredible work in the LGBTIQA+ community, and we hope this will be the first of many proud partnerships as we bring the group’s mission to life.”

Ross Wetherbee, President and Board Director of Wear It Purple welcomed Lion’s involvement.

“Support from the corporate sector is vital to the work that Wear it Purple does to support LGBTIQA+ young people. Our Corporate Supporters allow us to send Wear It Purple Day merchandise and resources to schools, universities and community organisations free of charge each year, ensuring there is no financial barrier to participating in the day. The support also enables us to develop important resources to educate, support and empower in the area of LGBTIQA+ youth inclusion and invest in the ideas of our Youth Action Council, bringing to life initiatives that resonate with youth today.”