Pride month celebrated by St. Paul Fortune 500 company

Securian Financial on Monday held a celebration and flag-raising in honor of Pride month.

The company’s CEO Chris Hilger said the company prioritizes diversity, equity and inclusion, adding, "when we encourage people to bring their authentic complete self to work we get a more collaborative more creative more innovative organization."

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter was on hand for the celebration as was Brigadier General Stefanie Horvath, the first openly gay woman to serve in the Minnesota National Guard.

"What is notable is the leaders acknowledged and worked through the issues," Horvath said. "They did not ignore the problem of discrimination in the ranks. They did not placate or pander, they acted deliberately and diligently to correct and improve the organization’s culture through training a lot of training."

Ten years ago, "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" was repealed.