6 LGBTQ+ TECH COMMUNITIES YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

As Pride Month comes to an end, we wanted to pull together all of the spotlighted communities and organisations of whom are working towards making the tech sector a more inclusive space for its LGBTQ+ members.

While the tech industry has made strides in recent years to promote greater workplace diversity, LGBTQ+ employees still have a long way to go. Despite the industry's lack of equality, a number of groups are working to change that by building communities and providing support for underrepresented trans, queer, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and gender nonconforming IT employees.

The 6 groups below are working towards closing the gap through networking, advocacy and championing more inclusive workspaces and within each profile we have included the website of each group if you wanted to find out any more information about it.

Out in Tech

Out in Tech is the world's largest non-profit community of LGBTQ+ tech leaders. Consisting of a global network of over 40,000 members, Out in Tech bring communities together through local and digital events, provide scholarships and support their members in networking and career development. They have active chapters in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Portland, Chicago, DC, Boston, Austin, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Stockholm, and Bengaluru.

"We envision a tech industry where LGBTQ+ people are empowered, well represented, and have full agency, from intern to CEO."

Website: https://tinyurl.com/26bq4hzc

Unicorns in Tech

Unicorns in Tech is a Berlin-founded LGBTIQ+ community which brings together tech talents, companies, and organisations working towards a diverse and inclusive corporate culture.

Since its inception in 2014 in Berlin, their 4000+ member network continues to rapidly expand via a myriad of events all year long and our online platform. They host monthly get-togethers to network within the industry and as a legacy of the Berlin LGBT+ Tech Week, they now organise the Unicorns In Tech Summit

""It's crucial for us to push for diversity in the IT field. The tech world is not as open as one would imagine and bringing together LGBTIQ+ people and other marginalised communities in this sphere is a concrete step in the right direction."

Website: https://tinyurl.com/28fypc9o

Lesbians Who Tech & Allies

Lesbians Who Tech & Allies is a welcoming community dedicated to increasing the visibility and inclusion of women, LGBT people, and other underrepresented groups in technology.

With over 100,000 members, including LGBTQ women, non-binary, trans, and gender nonconforming individuals. When it comes to colour, ethnicity, ability, age, and other factors, there are numerous intersecting identities of who are part of the community. Every year, 40.000 techies from over 100 countries attend their global Pride Summit.

Their goal:
- To be visible to each other by building a network of colleagues and friends in the industry.
- Be more visible to others and to highlight more queer, female, trans, GNC, and POC leaders as role models.
- To increase the number of women, people of colour, queer, and trans persons working in technology.
- To link our community with other organisations and businesses that are doing amazing things.

Website:  https://tinyurl.com/28kzho25

Tech London Advocates LGBTQ+

The Tech London Advocates LGBTQ+ working group is dedicated to helping "organisations to identify hidden bias and provide information on reducing bias and thus increase inclusivity."  They aim to create more inclusive workspaces through a series of professional networking and mentoring events, panels and workshops.

They provide advice to tech companies on embedding inclusion and diversity into the DNA culture of their organisations and illustrate the benefits of visibility and authenticity of all facets of LGBTQ. They also partner with organisations around the UK to amplify visibility and support for LGBTQ entrepreneurs.

Their goal is to create a community of LGBTQ Tech Advocates of all and any level in order to support and empower one and other through strength and mutuality in order to cultivate and nurture tech leaders for the future.

Website: https://tinyurl.com/2s4dup9n

Trans Tech Social

Trans Tech Social, founded in 2013 by tech entrepreneur Angelica Ross, provides training and job possibilities for transgender people, with the goal of reducing discrimination.

TransTech’s mission is to empower, educate, and employ those facing barriers in education and in the work-place, as well as to reduce instances of discrimination, with a concentration on trans and gender non-conforming individuals.

It focuses on economically empowering the transgender people in their community. It aims to facilitate learning and working together to develop skills and value within marginalized LGBTQ communities. TransTech members have access to online community and trainings as well.

Website: https://tinyurl.com/mryh67v4

Intertech LGBT+ Diversity Forum

Founded in 2012, Intertech LGBT+ Diversity Forum ("Intertech") is an NGO dedicated to promoting LGBT+ diversity in the UK tech sector. A forum for members of the  LGBTQ+ community and their allies, they're working towards driving positive change for LGBT+ individuals. They do this through partnering with organisations in London's tech scene from the Google's and Facebook's of the world all the way down to the smallest start-ups, we provide a platform through physical events and online presence to bring the community together.

What InterTech do:

- Create networking opportunities for members to build professional relationships.

- Host educational events which focus on LGBT+ issues in their workplaces and broader professional development related to technology.

- Deliver mentorship programs which link LGBT+ members early in their careers with other more established members.

- Facilitate connections between leaders of LGBT+ networks and creating forums to share best practices.

- Encourage the pooling of resources in development and rollout of diversity & inclusion.

Website: https://tinyurl.com/mh7t645n

The above organisations and communities are great example of an initiatives and organisations of whom are incredibly passionate and committed to encouraging LGBT+ diversity and inclusion in the  technology sector for the benefit of the individual, the organisations they represent and the industry overall.