American Airlines celebrates inclusion and diversity during PRIDE month

American Airlines is celebrating our team members in June during PRIDE month through PRIDE Parade sponsorships, special social posts and continued giving to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) organizations in the communities where our team members live and work.

“For over two decades, American has been a pioneer in establishing fair-minded policies and practices for our LGBT customers and team members,” commented Patrick O’Keeffe, senior vice president – People, and executive sponsor for Pride, American’s Employee Business Resource Group for LGBT and ally team members. “The key to our success as a company is being an airline customers want to fly, where people want to work and shareholders want to invest. It’s about being an inclusive airline that embraces diversity and creates an environment of mutual respect.”

American was the first major airline to implement both sexual orientation and gender identity nondiscrimination policies in the workplace as well as a company-recognized LGBT employee business resource group (EBRG) — known today as Pride. This year American will be celebrating PRIDE in a variety of ways including:

• Highlighting LGBT team members on social media each week for their commitment to help customers; tune in to @AmericanAirlines on Facebook each Tuesday to hear their stories.

• Sponsoring seven PRIDE Parades throughout the country; team members will be marching in parades in dozens of communities around the country.

• Participating in a career day at the Ali Forney Center in NYC to bring greater awareness to LGBT youth and young adults about career opportunities at American.

• The Pride EBRG will host “How to be an Ally” training and “Trans 101” sessions for team members.

• Customers can participate by watching inflight entertainment documentary, Forbidden: Undocumented & Queer in Rural America, chronicling Moises Serrano, an undocumented activist for LGBT equality. The film was screened in May 2017 at the American-sponsored 2017 Define American Film Festival in Charlotte, NC.

In the last year, American has provided significant support to several LGBT organizations including: the Astraea Lesbian Foundation in Dallas/Fort Worth, the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the Ali Forney Center in New York City, the Center on Halsted in Chicago and the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida.

In 2016, American became a diamond-level sponsor of the National Gay Pilots Association (NGPA), a place where LBGT and all ally pilots and aviation enthusiasts come together to celebrate and promote diversity and inclusion in the aviation industry. At this year’s convention, American awarded a $5,000 scholarship and two Boeing 737 type ratings through NGPA to aspiring aviators.

“I first met American recruiters at an NGPA event three years ago. American’s commitment to educating the next generation of aviators and creating an inclusive environment for all attracted me to American. Being an LGBT team member in any company may make some feel isolated, or find it difficult to find common ground, but American and the Pride EBRG work to make all team members feel included and valued,” commented LAX-based First Officer Rodrigo Ribeiro.

American has been recognized for commitment to the LGBT community for several years. For the past 15 years, American has been recognized by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) with the highest possible rating in the prestigious Corporate Equality Index. American was the only airline to achieve a perfect score when the CEI launched in 2002. Most recently American was named one of Logo TVs Top 25 Trailblazing Companies for serving as a pioneer and advocate in the LGBT community, and Best-of-the-Best Corporations for Inclusion by the business voice of the LGBT community: the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.