National Inclusion Week: 'Employers must understand the fear of being LGBTQ'
Author Juno Dawson says employers must be mindful of the fear of rejection experienced by LGBTQ people from a young age.
Tuesday 16 October 2018 09:52, UK
This week is National Inclusion Week - an annual opportunity to raise awareness of inclusion in the workplace.
Here, author Juno Dawson writes for Sky News about the everyday fears LGBTQ people have in the workplace.
At any given time, any of us is spinning a lot of metaphorical plates. This is universally true, but some plates are just that little bit trickier to spin.
Being gay, lesbian, bi, queer or transgender is one hell of a plate to spin. Employers should be mindful of this.
If you are not spinning those particular plates, you might not be aware of the fear that comes from being LGBTQ.
This fear often started when we were children, often when we started to recognise we were different.
You see, the world is telling us we're different. Every nice advert and billboard with a straight couple; every well-meaning adult telling us we're boys or girls and what we should wear and play with or who we should fall for.
Children aren't daft. We know ourselves. So from a very young age we fear rejection.
Unlike faith groups or ethnic groups, a person's sexuality is unlikely to match that of their parents, so the first fear is that they'll be rejected by their own family, or community. That can leave brutal scars at a key age.
Even if parents are accepting of a gay, bi or trans child, society still isn't always kind.
I'm not sure I've ever interviewed an LGBTQ person who hasn't experience harassment, abuse, prejudice or discrimination. Remember, gay and bi people in Northern Ireland are still told every single day they live there that they don't deserve the same basic rights as straight people.
Of course, no two LGBTQ people are the same and we all process this fear in different ways, but we do know that statistics on mental health for LGBTQ people are sobering.
For instance, nearly half (48%) of trans people under 26 said they had attempted suicide, and 30% said they had done so in the past year, while 59% said they had at least considered doing so.
When it comes to the workplace, employers must be mindful of this extra plate that some of their staff have had to spin every day since birth.
It could even be plates - bear in mind that some trans people are also gay or bi. Some gay, bi or trans people will also belong to ethnic groups or have a disability.
Stonewall has published statistics regarding LGBTQ people in the workplace, which I think are very telling:
:: One in five (19%) lesbian, gay and bi employees have experienced verbal bullying from colleagues, customers or service users because of their sexual orientation in the last five years.
:: One in eight (13%) lesbian, gay and bi employees would not feel confident reporting homophobic bullying in their workplace.
:: A quarter (26%) of lesbian, gay and bi workers are not at all open to colleagues about their sexual orientation.
:: Nearly half (42%) of trans people not living permanently in their preferred gender role stated they are prevented from doing so because they fear it might threaten their employment status.
:: More than 10% of trans people experienced being verbally abused and six per cent were physically assaulted at work.
:: As a consequence of harassment and bullying, 25% of trans people will feel obliged to change their jobs.
So I suppose I'll leave you with a question: what are you doing to let your LGBTQ staff know they work in a safe - not tolerant, you tolerate hay fever, not people - environment?
Do you display a rainbow flag or sticker somewhere in your reception area? How do you tackle homophobic or transphobic language or incidents? Do you collaborate with Stonewall? Do you allow time off for Eurovision?
OK, that last one is glib, but you get my point.
LGBTQ people often live with fear and insecurities over employment. What are you doing about that?
New research commissioned by Sky reveals that 25% of British workers have experienced discrimination in the workplace, with one in three under-25s believing a "glass ceiling" still exists preventing them from progressing.
Sky has partnered with to highlight the everyday practical ways an inclusive environment can be created in your workplace - and Sky News has asked writers from a diverse background to explain why the issue of inclusivity is important.