Inclusion Key to Creating Safe LGBTQ Work Space

By Sarah Kaplan and Geoff Leonardelli

The mass killings at the gay nightclub in Orlando have cast a terrible pall on Pride season this year. One recurring theme in the discussion is the importance of gay nightclubs as safe spaces - refuges, havens or sacred places - where members of the LGBTQ community can let their guard down and be themselves.

Gay bars and clubs have long been understood to have this important role in the gay community, primarily because there are few other spaces where LGBTQ people can truly feel safe.

On the surface, the business communities in Canada and the United States, two countries where gay marriage has been legalized, may well believe their workspaces seek to do the same. Indeed, in the recent "Pride and Prejudice" Economist Intelligence Unit report, most people working in a North American context recognize the value of a diverse workforce, including of sexual diversity.

But there is substantial evidence that this desire for diversity has not translated into psychological safety in the workplace. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 53 per cent of LGBTQ people in the U.S. closet themselves at least to some extent at work. We find similar experiences in Canada.

This past academic year, we hosted a panel of top Canadian executives at the Rotman School on "Being Out and a Leader at Work." They talked about how "coming out" is not something one does once, but takes place at work over and over again. They distinguished between "the big reveal" and the need to come out each time they moved to a new part of the organization, started working with a new team, or engaged with a new client.

Full (paywalled) op-ed in the Toronto Star: Inclusion Key to Creating Safe LGBTQ Work Space