"Queer in Tech" free stock photos

Adapted from this Mapbox blog post.

On Feb 14, 2020, Mapbox released “Queer in Tech,” a free collection of stock photos created by Uncharted, our employee resources program led by LGBTQIA+ Mapboxers. Uncharted created this photo set to promote the visibility of queer and gender-nonconforming (GNC) people in technology, who are often under-represented as workers powering the creative, technical, and business leadership of groundbreaking tech companies and products.

See and download the image collection here on Flickr.

We created these images to encourage and enable everyone in tech to represent LGBTQIA+ people at work. The photo collection includes images of collaboration and teamwork, leadership, design, engineering, and mobile development. We invite anyone to use them for blog posts, slide decks, billboards, digital ads, event promotion, or any other purpose promoting teamwork, leadership, or technology:

These photos are licensed CC BY 3.0 US and they’re free for anyone to use, as long as the use contains attribution.

👉 Download the photos here on Flickr 👈

Inspired by WOCTechChat

This collection of photos was inspired by Stephanie Morillo and Christina Morillo’s #WOCTechChat photos, which emerged from a Twitter chat to shine a light on women of color, who are often “hidden figures” in tech. Mapbox Uncharted ERG (our employee resource group supporting an inclusive environment for LGBTQIA+ people at Mapbox) organized and sponsored the project. We consulted Christina Morillo directly and we sourced “models” for the photoshoot from our internal community and our peers attending the Lesbians Who Tech Annual Summit in San Francisco.

Impossible without models!

With gratitude for the contribution of these models, we would like to share their voices to help illustrate the impact of “being seen” on these technologists’ sense of belonging. Here are their remarks on being part of this project:

Southeast Asian queer/trans person from Tennessee participant says:

I showed up to be seen. I hope these images will show visibility to some of the real authentic people behind our everyday products, and that there’s a ton of talented queer folks (and people of color) working in the tech sector.

Tall, black, mid-20s, committed to wholehearted living participant says:

I had just given a talk about the value of diversity in user experience research and as I searched for stock photos using the term ‘diversity’ I found myself laughing at what was available. Most of the photos lacked true diversity and…they lacked heart. Our shoot was absolutely full of life and excitement and beautiful representation and it was just fun!

Giuliana Garcia (Program Manager, Oculus) says:

I have come to embrace my gender nonconforming, queer style — and have absolutely stopped hiding it. But it’s difficult to work at a tech company and not only not see yourself reflected in other employees, but also not see yourself in internal presentation materials. We can be encouraged to bring our authentic selves to work…but until the subliminal messaging from these homogeneous presentations is resolved, it can be difficult to take that seriously and feel safe being 100% yourself at work.

Sales team member at Mapbox, 28 years old, queer participant says:

We need more stock photography that represents the diverse environments we work in. Tech is full of amazing, talented, diverse folks from every kind of background.