No, I can't just go to ______. It's not safe.

It's Pride month. Let's talk about safety and survival and the impact of jurisdiction on your colleagues for a moment.

One of the privileges hidden from the view of straight people, especially straight men, is the 'right' to exist, to be protected by basic laws in the context of wherever you are. To keep this short: have you considered the impact of legal rights on the mobility of your LGBTQ+ colleagues and access to certain markets?

I was recently in South Africa, and some well-intended people asked if I had seen other parts of Africa or did business there. I had visited some countries, but I had to explain that, like much of the world (including the United States) a complicated patchwork of imperfect or downright-dangerous legal situations existed in Africa; this is parralel to whatever the opinion of everyday people in each environment might be.

For example, South Africa was one of the first countries in the world to legalize LGBTQ protections and to legalize same-gender marriage. But they remain the only country in Africa to recognize same-gender marriages, and not everyone actually is okay with same-gender marriages, just like parts of the States. Meanwhile, countries like Uganda have embraced anti-LGBTQ laws and even have the death penalty for certain 'offenses.'

In many places, government policies do not reflect the will of the people, due to corruption, delays in legislation, or gerrymandering-like manipulation of the electoral process. However, they do influence everyday people. Far-right ideologies and legislation, sometimes linked to evangelical Christianity or other conservative religious movements, are resulting in demonstrable increases in violent crime and day-to-day biases against my community in my home country. Public opinion, and thus safety, are affected—especially when the legislation is specifically designed to silence LGBTQ+ voices who might be advocating for themselves or educating others, as we've seen in Florida.

I also work in Mexico. I remember walking along a display in the historical center of Mexico City showing the femicides (many of which affected 'femme' queer men, transfolks, or women who didn't conform to expectations of straight males, such as those who chose to be single). These attempts to control and police gender expression are absolutely linked to anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment and actions. For what it's worth, I often feel safer expressing my Queer gender in Mexico City than I do in my home state in the US.

While it's NOT a 1:1 analogy, there are parallels to/overlaps with what women experience when working and traveling globally. Women are affected by misogyny in society and the workplace, and then also may not be treated equally under the law or customs of a particular environment. But most men assume they can travel and work anywhere, and so women must choose carefully when and how they bring up these issues when asked to travel to or transfer to dangerous environments. (This issue is obviously even more intense when you consider Queer women and transfolk.)

Please consider that your colleagues may not be able to (or want to) visit or relocate to anti-LGBTQ+ places or work with organizations based in those jurisdictions. Endorsing a business strategy which works with a regressive government or in a regressive environment may feel traitorous to our communities. It's y/our job to use our privileges to critique these environments from our positions of relative safety, and to include LGTBQ+ people in the strategy and policy-making within your organization. If you don't know of LGBTQ+ people in roles able to contribute to strategy and policy, try to find representatives of our communities elsehwere in your organization, and/or consider hiring outside advocates in the interim while you get your diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts together. That way you'll avoid the awkward moments when you ask your Queer colleague to take a business trip to Saudi Arabia and they give you a shocked stare.

Take a look at this comprehensive Wikipedia article (which has both maps of discriminatory/supportive legal environments and a comprehensive table of legal situations). Ask questions and start to consider where and how your business operates in relation to these jurisdictions (and do the same within your home country).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_by_country_or_territory