Across the world, LGBTQ+ communities are confronting a growing tsunami of hostility – laws targeting their identities, escalating social ostracism, and rhetoric that feels ripped straight from darker chapters of history. But there’s another battlefront, quieter yet no less fierce: the sleek, hushed boardrooms of corporate power. In Canada, as in much of the world, the lavender ceiling remains stubbornly intact, nearly invisible yet profoundly unyielding.Take this sobering statistic: among the more than 9,300 directors who graced Toronto Stock Exchange-listed companies from 2015 to 2022, just 0.15 per cent were openly LGBTQ+.

LGBTQ+ people are underrepresented on corporate boards of directors and throughout most organizations in Canada. This report summarizes findings from an analysis of representation on Toronto Stock Exchange-listed companies from 2015-2022 along with a review of the existing research on LGBTQ+ representation on boards and within organizations.

Yet the challenge is not primarily about the pipeline. There are many board-qualified LGBTQ+ people who are not being given opportunities to serve as a corporate director today. Canadian boards are often seen as “boys’ clubs” that have excluded not only women (who are only 27 per cent of board directors today) but also other people from under-represented groups (racialized people, Indigenous people, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ people to name a few). By blaming the pipeline, they are giving themselves an excuse for not trying harder to build a more diverse, and therefore more effective, board.

Despite recent changes in legal protections and increasing public acceptance, trans and gender diverse people disproportionately face experiences of stigma and discrimination at work simply because of their gender identity or gender expression. And, this is particularly true for people with intersecting identities such as race, indigenity, or disability. As part of our research, we compiled current best practices for trans inclusion, both in terms of basic accommodations, such as non-discrimination protections, assisting employees with transitions, gender-inclusive facilities and forms, and more advanced inclusive practices, such as executive leadership support, inclusive recruiting, regular training, targeted allyship programs, diversity and inclusion managers, and networking with relevant community organizations.

We surveyed 69 organizations which collectively employ more than 700,000 people across Canada. The aim of the study was to document the policies and practices for supporting trans and gender non-conforming people applied by Canada’s large employers. This groundbreaking survey shows that while a substantial portion of organizations surveyed have anti-discrimination policies and training that includes gender identity and gender expression, only a fraction of these organizations have broader inclusion policies aimed at providing equitable professional opportunities for trans and gender non-conforming people.

In No Place Like Home: Lessons from Activism in LGBT Kansas, C. J. Janovy offers up progressive lessons in a red state.

Building truly inclusive economies requires that leaders broaden their understanding of gender and the many different ways gender identity can affect inclusion.

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.