LGBTI Inclusion- Building the relevance

The recent release of Global Business on LGBTI Discrimination by the the United Nations Human Rights Office and the Institute for Human Rights and Business has come at a very opportune time. India Inc. has never before spoken about the inclusion of LGBTI people as it is doing now- it has become the buzz word in the corporate circles.

However, while many organizations are keen to create workplaces that promote equality for all, LGBTI Inclusion presents many dilemmas as well.

“The business case for LGBT inclusion seems to have been established. But I am not sure our organization is ready for this.”

“We are happy to take this up as a diversity strand this year. However, we don’t know if there are LGBTI members in our organization. No one has yet come up to talk about it. So maybe we will wait for a little longer.”

“We have not yet heard any stories of discrimination of LGBTI here. Why rock the boat?”

“Unless they come out of the closet, we will not know if our policies and interventions are impacting them and the business positively.”

These are real and common dilemmas that we hear of from D&I champions within organizations. Unlike the other diversity strands of gender, disability, or age, the invisible aspect of sexual orientation brings in a certain complexity, which makes an organization question the relevance of LGBTI inclusion specific in their context. Beneath this, sometimes, there is also an unstated and maybe even unrecognized bias about how LGBTI discussions will be received by senior management and other employees, which in turn slows down the much needed actions towards making it happen.

We have written about why sexuality conversations are relevant in the workplace here. Now, we will take some of those arguments and thoughts on the importance of LGBTI inclusion. 

1)   Hierarchy of needs

We find organizations taking up inclusion efforts specific to diversity strands. “We have done a lot of work on gender this year. Now we would like to focus on disabilities or LGBTI next year”, is another common statement that we hear. While this focus on a specific diversity strand for a certain period of time does play the purpose of having concentrated efforts, it also dilutes conversations on inclusion and what it really means.

It is important to look at inclusion from a larger lens, else there is the danger of developing a myopic view of the concept. The sustained segregation based on such a hierarchy of needs of LGBTI people may also present itself as a threat to the remaining heteronormative community that they are being excluded, or that in an effort to make diversity important, meritocracy is being compromised.

A broader understanding and definition of inclusion, therefore, needs to be developed. A hierarchy of needs cannot decide which group should be given access or acceptance, for that matter, and in which year. To us, inclusion is having a sense of belonging and having equal access of opportunities and information networks.

2)   Authenticity

Think about it. When have you felt at your best, at the workplace or even in a personal setting? Will it be the times when you have been able to present your view points and be yourself without any pretenses, or when you have felt that you are hiding a part of you, a very important part of you, from the people that you interact with on a daily basis?

The need for authenticity cannot be stressed enough when discussing the effective inclusion of LGBTI people. Authenticity fosters feelings of belonging and gives a sense of being cared for at work, whereas the opposite of it can create a sense of loneliness and isolation, which will in turn negatively impact engagement and productivity at work.To be able to say that one has a same sex partner without fear of discrimination or ridicule can be a very empowering feeling. This simultaneously has a positive impact on a person’s ability to perform at the workplace. Authenticity, therefore, becomes an important business case for inclusion.

3)     Internal Culture

The question to be asked is not whether LGBTI people are there in your organization. The real question to be asked is “Is my current culture supportive and safe enough for a person to come out of the closet?” Even if employees have not explicitly stated that they belong to or identify as LGBTI, proactive steps should be taken towards creating an inclusive culture for all, regardless for their sexual orientation.

It is critical that the internal environment gears itself for the external changes that are rapidly taking in place. With the rise of the LGBTI movement and the rising number of voices, from within the community and allies, more and more are people coming out of the closet. This can very well happen within an organization as well. It will prove to be costlier if organizations wait till after such an occurrence for actions to be taken, policies to be designed and interventions to be implanted. Therefore, being prepared for this eventuality will go a long way in effective management of the situation, even if it is just one employee who decides to come out.

Conclusion

We are cognizant of the fact that even if corporates are on board with making LGBTI inclusion a priority, homophobia and deep-seated mindsets and prejudices are some of the stumbling blocks that they can be faced with. So we have outlined concrete steps on how to address these challenges and move towards true inclusion here.