[Recap] : Pride friendly Maps virtual meet up

[Globe_trotter_Ish]

June is celebrated as the ‘Pride Month’ world-wide to honour and respect the Lesbinas, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and allied (LGBTQ+) community and spread awareness about the same. We recently hosted aPride friendly Maps virtual meet up , which was a part of the #mapsforall series 2021(which focuses on helping local businesses, map Accessibility information, learn, share tips & do fun Map edits to reflect Inclusivity for all). This virtual meet-up was open to all Local Guides who belong to the LGBTQ+ community or are supportive towards making their Maps contributions useful to the LGBTQ+ community. The motto of the meet-up was to help us all gain some perspective of the LGBTQ+ community and learn from others on how we can improve our contributions on Maps in a way that helps our friends belonging to the LGBTQ+ community feel safe and help them navigate like a local stress free ! A Big Thank You to all the attendees for coming and speaking their hearts out and sharing wonderful stories that inspire us to contribute and help out the LGBTQ+ community members around us by creating #mapsforall because every individual deserves to be treated with love and respect

The meet-up started with a brief round of introduction and a presentation by me on Ways to make Maps contributions helpful to the LGBTQ+ community around us !. We spoke of many ways in which we could use Maps and Google My Business to help the LGBTQ+ members around us to live a happy and stress-free life ! Post this we had a very knowledgeable and interactive session with our guest speaker @AdrianLunsong who helped us understand and gain some perspective over the LGBTQ+ community, its history and why the ‘Pride month’ is celebrated and how it helps spread awareness about the LGBTQ+ community. We also saw some really cool pictures taken by Adrian in various Pride parades and know the importance of these parades. You can see them in the photo album.

A Big ‘Thank you’ to Adrian for answering questions coming from me and all our attendees with a smile on his face ! We were live on Youtube during the meet up so in case if you wish to see the full recording and know more about the topics discussed during the meet up, here you go :https://youtu.be/xTCUp0CIADk

I was happy to see the attendees so eager to know, understand and learn about the LGBTQ+ community and make their Maps contributions much more inclusive than they are now. I personally loved the interactive session more because it was more like friends coming together, being supportive and encouraging each other to make their contributions useful to the pride community. It was interesting to know so many unknown facts and laws related to LGBTQ+ community in various countries around the world. I would like to thank all the attendees and specially to @StephenAbraham , @KashifMisidia ji, @RosyKohli ma’am, @Shrut19 tai, @AjitThite dada, @Tejal ben, @Erna_LaBeau and @Anil6969 ji for sharing their views and stories with us and encouraging others to be kind and treat everyone with respect. Lets together create #mapsforall !

Here is our ‘Smiles for supporting Pride’ moment :

I hope the meet up inspires others to treat others with love, empathy and respect no matter who they are, what they do or what they love

#bekind #thinkinclusive #LocalGuides #LetsGuide

[StephenAbraham]

@Globe_trotter_Ish @AdrianLunsong Thanks for hosting this inclusivity meet-up. Let us continue to ensure better freedom and acceptance for people from all walks of life.

[AdrianLunsong]

Thanks very much @Globe_trotter_Ish ! Really enjoyed this meet-up and I’m glad that I could be of assistance to highlight the amazing LGBTQIA+ community! Major thanks to your #mapsforall initiative too!

By the way, @KashifMisidia , you need to smile more in group photos

[Globe_trotter_Ish]

Thank you @StephenAbraham for attending the meet up and being so supportive and happy to support the LGBTQ+ community using Maps. I am glad you found the meet up useful ! Looking forward to seeing you soon at meet ups !

[Globe_trotter_Ish]

Thank you @AdrianLunsong for your kind words ! I am glad you liked the #mapsforall meet up series initiative! I think we should co host one more in that series in the future ! If you have any ideas, do let me know, we can collaborate ! Looking forward to it !

I think @KashifMisidia was driving when we took the photo, haha… but I am happy he joined the meet up and spoke about how is the situation of the LGBTQ+ community in his homeland and how he wishes to suppport them through Maps !

[Tejal]

@Globe_trotter_Ish

Good initiative dear we have knowledge of technology so we can spread awareness very fast and we must do that. Enjoyed your session.

Regards Tejal

[Globe_trotter_Ish]

Thank you so much for your kind words @Tejal ben ! Yes, you are right, we are lucky to have a platform like Google with which we can increase awareness about important topics like accessibility, inclusivity, zero waste, etc. Thank you for sharing your insight with us and inspiring us to do good work !

[AjitThite]

Congratulations for a fantastic meetup on animportanttopic, @Globe_trotter_Ish ;it was an eye-opening experience for me.

Cheers!

[Anil6969]

thanks @Globe_trotter_Ish

for conducting such a well deserved topic for meetup.

keep sharing good work.

regards

[Shrut19]

नमस्कार…

** @Globe_trotter_Ish **

छान मिट अप होस्ट केलेस, वेगळा विषय निवडलास अखदि धाडसी पाऊल म्हटले तरी चालेल, आमचा प्रयत्न असतो मानवतावादी असण्याचा, पुढे हि राहिल…

[Globe_trotter_Ish]

Thank you so much @Anil6969 and @AjitThite dada for your kind words. I am glad you found the meet up interesting. Lets be kind to one another and form an inclusive friendly community around us with the help of Maps !

[Globe_trotter_Ish]

धन्यवाद @Shrut19 ताई. मला वाटते की आपण सर्वांनी एकमेकांशी दयाळूपणे वागले पाहिजे आणि इतरांचा आदर केला पाहिजे. चला सर्वसमावेशक विचार करूया !