“I volunteer at CBS Diversity and Inclusion, and I got involved in CBS Pride because the president of CBS Diversity asked me if I wanted to be part of the communication team of this year’s committee. I’d been to a Pride parade in London and I thought this was a good opportunity to see how things are from the other side, and to spread the love,” he says.

Although CBS Pride is currently in its third year, its presence is as pertinent as ever, according to David Brodecky.

“CBS has this posh image – very corporate and international. But the minorities aren’t seen or heard. It’s good that it’s a good school, but we as students are here to do more than chase a business career. We also want to have fun, make new friends and express ourselves.”

He says that CBS Pride is a great opportunity to escape this stereotype and show some openness and support.

“We’ll have plain white t-shirts with the slogan “Love suits everyone”. It fits CBS’ image, and probably most students. You don’t need to go crazy in Pride,” David Brodecky explains.

A male ballet dancer was too much…

But to David Brodecky, Pride is also very personal. He’s from a small town in the Czech Republic where it’s not easy to be a homosexual.

“People are still very narrow-minded when it comes to homosexuality,” he says.

“Until I was 22 years old, I thought I liked girls. When I took a long look at a guy, I thought to myself that I was just jealous of his muscles. I only figured out I was gay when I went abroad. But it’s still a work in progress, especially with my parents. Two years ago, I was watching a TV show with my father when he switched to another channel because there was a male ballet dancer who he thought was a bit too fairylike. Little did he know about my sexual orientation. I’m 30 now and only told my parents two months ago.”

He likes to live in Denmark because he doesn’t feel that being gay here is “wrong”. In fact, when some of his colleagues found out he was gay, they took him to a gay club. However, there’s still a long way to go, he thinks.

“Denmark is progressive in many aspects, but we can always compare ourselves to other countries. In Gran Canaria, for example, it’s super common to see two guys kissing. In Denmark, you don’t see that happening. I have talked to many friends about it, and they agree. People accept it, but they don’t want to see it,” he argues.

Can you name a non-hetero CEO?

David Brodecky’s ambition shines through in his role in CBS Pride:

“One day, I would like to become a big manager. Yet, being openly gay can be an obstacle and people prefer to stay quiet about it at work. Can you name a non-hetero or non-cisgender CEO? The only one I can think of is Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. And even in his case, he only came out after becoming the CEO. Hopefully, that’ll have changed in 10 years, and sexual orientation will be a normalized topic. Maybe CBS can contribute to this change.”

He gives the example of London Business School, known for having the largest LGBT+ student organization in England, which is breaking ground in collaboration with large companies on diversity and inclusion.

Drag Bingo, QueerLab and Banner workshop

Last year, CBS Pride won the internal CBS Fonnesbech Staff Price for best collaborative project between the administration and scientific staff. This gave CBS Diversity some money to organize CBS Winter Pride, an event that numbered more than 200 people.

This summer, CBS Pride hopes to win it again. Participants can expect new and exciting events throughout June and August. Drag Bingo, QueerLab, a special talk and a Banner workshop are just some of the events in the pipeline.

And then there’s the new CBS Pride dance

But this year’s add-on is the dance.

“The CBS Pride team got in touch with CBS Dance – which I’m also part of – to organize the choreography. I’ve been hip-hop dancing since I was 16 years old, so I became responsible for the dance,” David Brodecky explains.

“I’m going to teach the moves to the committee team at the end of June. We chose Jennifer Lopez’s song On the floor, which is a catchy and fun song. We plan to make a video of it for social media. Before the event, I’ll have two hours to teach it to all the participants. Last year, 300 people attended, so it’ll be quite a challenge. But we’re hoping for even more people. You’re all welcome!”

CBS Staff CBS Students