It was barely 20 years ago that UK law changed to make it illegal to discriminate against employees for their sexual orientation, yet many LGB people feel like we’re moving back to the bad old days of homophobic workplace discrimination.
Since LGB Alliance was founded in 2019, many of our supporters have told us they feel intimidated and threatened for speaking out on issues that directly affect them. In a significant number of workplaces, it’s become taboo even to state basic, uncontroversial truths, such as the fact there are two sexes, or that homosexuality is defined as same-sex attraction.
Those fears are well-founded. There has been a spate of incidents — some reported in the national media, many others not — of people disciplined or bullied for what they say about issues relating to their own sex and sexuality. These range from individuals being disciplined or dismissed for expressing gender critical views (such as the landmark Maya Forstater case), to Civil Service guidelines that enable men to identify as women to access single-sex spaces such as toilets and changing rooms.
We believe LGB people should feel safe everywhere, especially in the place where we spend most of our waking lives: at work.
That’s why we’re proud to announce the launch of LGB Alliance Business Forum: a new initiative to restore the hard-won rights of LGB people in the workplace — including the fundamental freedoms of speech and of conscience, as well as freedom from discrimination.
Last year, the independent Inclusion at Work panel reported that many employers want to ‘do the right thing’ but are implementing Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives without any evidence base, and do not evaluate their impact. The Business Forum is not “anti-EDI” but exists to highlight divisive and homophobic initiatives, and to work with employers to develop sensible policies and robust protections that safeguard everybody’s dignity.
Led by senior LGB executives with decades of experience, including HR leaders, the Business Forum will also report on good and bad workplace EDI practices through our Ambassador programme, which aims to place representatives within every UK business employing over 250 people. Ambassadors are eligible for special networking events and invitation-only webinars on employment law and relevant workplace regulations.
We believe that when people can bring their ‘best self’ to work, everybody wins. We look forward to working with employers to help foster greater employee cohesion, protect organisations from expensive and reputationally-damaging litigation, and develop workplace policies that work for everyone.
As with everything LGB Alliance does, we couldn’t achieve our goal without our network of brilliant volunteers and supporters. So, if you’d like to know how you can help — or if you’re interested in becoming one of our Ambassadors — drop us a line. Together, let’s make the workplace somewhere everybody can feel safe (and proud!) to be themselves.