Diversity

Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), it is illegal to discriminate in any aspect of employment.

As Human Resources professionals, we have an important role in creating an environment where diversity is valued. We are responsible for monitoring and ensuring the integration of diversity in our workplaces. By doing so, we will witness strengthened workplaces, enhanced employee productivity and reduced litigation risks.

The ARSHRM diversity program’s purpose is to affirm diversity awareness amongst its affiliated chapters and within the state of Arkansas. Each affiliate chapter is responsible for at least one diversity-oriented program per year.

Per the Society for Human Resource Management:

“To celebrate diversity is to appreciate and value individual differences. SHRM strives to be the leader in promoting workplace diversity. Although the term is often used to refer to differences based on ethnicity, gender, age, religion, disability, national origin and sexual orientation, diversity encompasses an infinite range of individuals’ unique characteristics and experiences, including communication styles, physical characteristics such as height and weight, speed of learning and comprehension.”

June Diversity News

Eleven years ago, in June of 2000, President Clinton proclaimed the month of June as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month; and on May 28, 2010, President Obama proclaimed June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month to “recognize the immeasurable contributions of LGBT Americans” and to renew the “commitment to the struggle for equal rights for LGBT Americans and to ending prejudice and injustice wherever it exists.”  Once again on May 31, 2011, President Obama proclaimed June 2011, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month to “commemorate the courageous individuals who have fought to achieve this promise [of a more perfect Union] for LGBT Americans, and [...] rededicate ourselves to the pursuit of equal rights for all regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.”

View the SHRM Diversity Newsletter for June 2011

June Diversity Observances & Dates to Remember

June 2

• Ascension Day (Orthodox Christian) celebrate this day 40 days after Easter to commemorate the final earthly appearance of Jesus after his resurrection. The Christians believe that Jesus ascended into heaven.

June 3

• Corpus Christi - Catholic Christian; is celebrated in honor of the Eucharist.

June 8-9

• Shavuot (Jewish) observance to celebrate the giving of the Torah, God’s gift to the Jewish people, which is a guide for how to live in this world. It occurs seven weeks after Passover. (Starts at sundown June 6)

June 12

• Pentecost (Christian); is the seventh day after Easter. Celebrated by the Christians to commemorate the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples in the form of tongues of fire and rushing wind. A traditional day for baptism and confirmation of new Christians.
 

June 14

• Flag Day (USA); is observed to celebrate the history and the symbolism of the American flag.
 

June 16

• Martyrdom of Guru Arjan Dev (Nanakshahi Calendar) (Sikh); Guru Arjan Dev was the fifth Sikh guru and the first Sikh martyr. He was responsible for compiling all the writings of all the past gurus and formulating the Sikh Holy Scripture known as the Guru Granth Sahib.
 

June 19

• Juneteenth; also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day and is observed as a public holiday in fourteen states of the United States. This is an African –American celebration that honors the day in 1865 when slaves in Texas and Louisiana finally heard they were free, two months after the end of the Civil War. June 19th, therefore, became the day for independence for thousands of African Americans.
 

June 20

• Father’s Day (USA); the idea for creating a day for children to honor their father began in Spokane, Washington. A woman named Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father’s Day while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909. Having been raised by her father, after her mother’s death, she wanted her father to know how special he was to her. Sonora’s father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father’s Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on the 19th of June, 1910. In 1972, President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father’s Day to be held on the third Sunday.
 

June 21

• Summer Solstice; is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and occurs on or around June 21-22nd.
 

June 25

• Midsummer Eve Festivals; observed in Northern Europe and are Pagan in origin. Celebrated at the height of the brilliant northern summer before the first harvest, this has always been one of the most popular festivals in Northern Europe, especially in Sweden.

June 28

• Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender (GLBT Pride Day (USA); this event emerged from the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion, when patrons of a gay New York nightclub, The Stonewall Inn, resisted police attempt to raid the club.
• St Peter’s Day; observed by the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches to honor the disciple chosen by Jesus to give leadership to the church.
• Lailat Ul Mairaj; Muslims commemorate this day to celebrate Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) night journey from Makkah to Jerusalem and his ascension to heaven.