Gay and Transgender Issues in the Workplace

The new web page that provides guidance to corporate managers on gay and transgender workplace issues is now available for viewing. The initial response has been outstanding. If you'd like to learn more, please go to www.brian-mcnaught.com/guide.
Following are a couple more of the frequently-asked questions and the guidance that reflects input from a global team of advisors.

we need training and someone refuses to participate?

 

Do NOT underestimate the enormous emotional, psychological, spiritual, and political significance of this issue for everyone in the office. Handle with care.

 

Do NOT communicate a lack of awareness or sensitivity to the feelings of everyone on your staff, but do not coddle behaviors that undermine the values of the corporation.

 

Do NOT accommodate a threat to office cohesion in the name of personal moral values. If you allow an employee to absent him or herself from diversity training on gay and transgender issues without ramifications, you communicate that the company’s values are negotiable and you set a precedent for the behavior of the staff on all other company initiatives.

 

Do NOT be afraid to confront bias on gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender issues that are couched in religious views anymore than you would avoid confronting racism or sexism that is couched in statements about “freedom of religion.” The company respects the diversity of religious views but does not embrace any one religion’s doctrines. The company seeks to create an environment in which people of varying religious views can work comfortably together as a team. Consider providing training on the diversity of religious views.

 

DO ask for help from your Diversity and Human Resources professional. Ask them for the company’s policy on mandatory attendance.

 

DO be consistent. If you have not mandated training on sexual harassment, do not mandate attendance at diversity training on gay issues. If you have mandated training on sexual harassment or other issues of diversity, do not make training on gay and transgender issues optional.

 

DO communicate your unequivocal commitment to valuing diversity and to creating a workplace in which all employees feel safe and valued.

 

DO talk one-on-one with the employee who refuses to attend the training to see if you can eliminate any preconceived notions they have of the training. Provide them literature about the trainer and the program. Provide them feedback to the training from others who have heard the presentation. Ask them to come and sit with you for the first hour. Assure them that their religious values will not be assaulted.

 

DO explain that the entire office is attending the training as a team and that if they chose to absent themselves from the activity it reflects their lack of interest in the team. Such behavior makes them less attractive for positions of leadership.

 

DO explain that the training will outline which behaviors at work are considered supportive and welcoming of gay and transgender colleagues and which behaviors are considered unwelcoming and forbidden by corporate policy. Make clear that if the employee chooses to absent him or herself from the training and then inadvertently engages in behaviors that are considered hostile, that he or she cannot use ignorance or lack of awareness of the policy as an excuse and that action will be taken.

 

legal action is threatened?

 

Do NOT say anything more about the issue to the person threatening legal action. Immediately refer the matter to the Legal department and to the Human Resources office. Inform the person in question that you are unable, for legal reasons, to discuss the issue further.

 

Do NOT change your behavior toward the person threatening legal action. Keep the issue separate. Focus on the corporate ideals of teamwork that value diversity.

 

DO make clear to your colleagues your intention to maintain office cohesiveness. Discourage any discussion of the issue, explaining that it has been referred to corporate legal counsel.

 

In the next week, I'll be sending to a small group of diversity directors, the first invitation to access our exciting new web page that provides guidance to managers who seek cultural competence on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender workplace issues.  I couldn't be happier with, or more proud of, the joint effort to create this very useful, cutting edge new resource. In the major part of the program, I offer guidance to the thirty-four most commonly asked questions on gay and transgender workplace issues. What follows is a couple more of those questions and responses. To learn more about this web site, please write to me at brian@brian-mcnaught.com.

SO, WHAT IF....?

a gay or transgender employee wants to be out and I don’t think that it’s safe?

 

Do NOT assume that what would feel unsafe for you would necessarily feel unsafe for your colleague. Tell him or her of your concern and your reasons for judging the environment to be unsafe. Ask for their assessment of the environment.

 

Do NOT make it more difficult for them to come out by suggesting that if they do so, “You’re on your own.” Instead, tell him or her that whatever they decide to do, you will back them up.

 

Do NOT assume that they want you to tell other people for them. Ask them if there is anything you can do to make it easier, including telling others for them.

 

Do NOT say “I told you so,” if things work out poorly for the colleague who is coming out. They are being harassed because of their status, not as a result of anything they are doing wrong. It is not their fault if others respond unprofessionally and in violation of corporate policies and ideals.

 

DO proactively address the conditions which prompt you to feel that it is not safe for this employee, or any employee, to be out at work.

 

DO ask for guidance from your Human Resources professional and Diversity specialist. Tell them of your concerns. See if they share your views. Come up with a strategy that supports the decision of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender colleague and promote an inclusive climate for all employees.

 

DO your best to create a safer environment by communicating clearly the company’s expectations of every employee to value diversity. Be clear of what that means in day-to-day behaviors. Tell them that such support of their gay or transgender colleague is expected inside and outside of the office, when on company business, and always with clients.

 

DO put the gay or transgender colleague in touch with the gay and transgender Employee Resource Group (ERG) for support. Encourage him or her to contact the Human Resources or your Diversity specialist for information on sources of support outside of the company.

 

DO provide diversity training on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues for your staff.

 

a gay or transgender employee tells a gay or transgender joke or uses prohibited language?

 

Do NOT encourage the behavior by laughing at the joke or indicating that the language is acceptable. Treat the situation exactly as you would if the joke or offensive language was coming from the mouth of a heterosexual or a non-transgender person.

 

Do NOT accept that the gay or transgender person telling the joke or using objectionable language, such as “fag,” “dyke,” “queer,” “homo,” “queen,” or “tranny” has license to make fun of him or herself. Their language undermines office cohesion, confuses heterosexual colleagues, and offends other gay and transgender people and those who love them. Their behavior does not represent the feelings of the company’s gay and transgender Employee Resource Group, even if it is coming from a member or officer of the ERG. Some gay and transgender people are immature and unsophisticated. Some suffer from internalized homophobia or transphobia. Being gay or transgender does not give them permission to defy the company’s efforts to value diversity.

 

DO speak up in such situations to express your discomfort and disappointment. Take the lead in showing others that this behavior or language is not acceptable.

 

DO pull the gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender person aside and tell him or her what about their behavior is unacceptable and why: “It gives license to others to behave the same way and it creates a hostile working environment for others.”

 

DO report the incident to your Human Resources or Diversity specialist. Make sure that you have their support so that you don’t hear from them later that the gay or transgender person felt discriminated against or “put down.”