Guest post: True inclusion requires more and more and more

Via J.A. at Miscellany Room, a little missive from his HR department:

Written by PRIDE: LGBTQIA2S+ employee resource group

Getting to true inclusion for LGBTQIA2S+ employees requires much more than an inclusive and respectful workplace policy or rainbow branding each year for Pride month.

True inclusion for LGBTQIA2S+ employees means creating a psychologically safe workplace environment and expanding allyship practices across all departments.

The PRIDE employee resource group has been actively advocating and working toward inclusion for LGBTQIA2S+ employees in both big and small changes this year, such as promoting inclusive benefits and policies for LGBTQIA2S+ employees and intentionally recruiting for LGBTQIA2S+ representation. PRIDE has also been working with HR on smaller steps like including personal pronouns in communications and HR systems and providing employee training to decrease the frequency of microaggressions (such as automatically asking women about husbands/boyfriends, asking men about wives/girlfriends, misgendering, tokenization of identity, use of derogatory language, failure to acknowledge queer relationships, exclusion from socializations, etc.).

And part of true inclusion starts this week with National Coming Out Day which is commemorated each year on Oct. 11 and aims to “continue to promote a safe world for LGBTQ individuals to live truthfully and openly,” (Human Rights Campaign website). National Coming Out Day can trace its roots back to the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. The march aimed to draw attention to the federal government’s inaction in confronting the AIDS crisis and the Supreme Court’s 1986 ruling upholding Georgia’s anti-gay sodomy law.

The march marked the unveiling of the AIDS memorial quilt (a massive patchwork honoring those lost to the virus) and at the time an unprecedented show of support for gay rights: More than half a million people showed up to demand their rights that fall.

36 years later, the PRIDE employee resource group recognizes that there are still areas where employees experience a workplace environment where “coming out” is not welcomed. Coming out of the closet, shortened to “coming out,” is often a metaphor used to describe LGBTQIA2S+ people’s self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation or gender identity. “Coming out” is often framed and debated as a privacy issue in the workplace. “Coming out” is experienced variously as a psychological process or journey. In coming out there is: decision-making or risk-taking; a strategy or plan; a matter of personal identity; a rite of passage; liberation or emancipation from oppression; feelings of LGBT pride, shame and social stigma; or even a career-threatening act.

Our PRIDE employee resource group acknowledges that “coming out” has been the common term for someone who acknowledges being LGBTQIA2S+ but it is a lived experience and therefore is experienced differently by different individuals. It is also important to note that this language centers on the people that are the audience to the “coming out” rather than the LGBTQIA2S+ individuals themselves who are coming out. It gives the impression that people who don’t identify as cisgender or heterosexual are hiding something from society and need to be honest and come out, rather than acknowledging how homophobia and transphobia create an unwelcoming environment.

When publicly identifying as LGBTQIA2S+, an individual is inviting people into a personal part of their life journey. A part that requires being vulnerable and that should be protected and celebrated. “Coming out” is not about your LGBTQIA2S+ co-worker(s) asking permission to be themselves. “Coming out” is the opportunity for LGBTQIA2S+ people to control the narrative, as well as who and what they allow into their life.

This October the PRIDE employee resource group wants you to focus on the collective power of expanding allyship practices across all departments and creating a psychologically safe workplace environment. We want you to not look at National Coming Out Day as a mandate for gays to out themselves but as an opportunity to uphold an inclusive and respectful workplace environment for all employees and celebrate the month of LGBT history.

Everyone deserves a life free from bias, discrimination and hate — and we are working hard every single day to make sure that is a reality for you and for everyone. We are going to build a world where every LGBTQIA2S+ person can be healthy, safe, liberated, celebrated and joyful in every area of our lives – without exception!

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