Pride in the Workplace

The history of LGBTQ+ in the UK has seen horrific injustices, from prison sentences to the death penalty, those who identify as part of this community have bravely fought discrimination for hundreds of years.

The fight, however, is not over.

Many countries hold onto archaic anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, calling the “crimes” unnatural. Even in some more “progressive” countries, ‘phobias’ are rife, and although inciting hate and violence towards members of the community is against the law, there is so much more to be done.

The journey of LGBTQ+ legal rights

Legislation covering the rights of people who identify as LGBTQ+ has evolved over the years. 1967 saw the start of a turning point in the UK, with the Sexual Offences Act. Which was a limited decriminalisation of homosexual acts where three conditions were fulfilled: 1) the act had to be consensual, 2) the act had to take place in private and 3) the act could involve only people that had attained the age of 21.

Fast forward to 2022, and there have been a number of changes in domestic and workplace laws.

Same-sex marriage was made legal in England and Wales in 2013, Scotland followed suit with the in 2014 and Northern Ireland made same-sex marriage legal on 13 January 2020.

The Gender Recognition Act 2004, which came into effect on 4 April 2005, gave trans people full legal recognition of their gender, allowing them to acquire a new birth certificate – although gender options are limited to ‘male’ or ‘female’.

The Equality Act of 2010 introduced legal protection of LGBTQ+ employees, from discrimination, harassment and victimisation at work. The legislation brought together existing legislation and added protections for trans workers, solidifying rights granted by the Gender Recognition Act.

LGBTQ+ at work

As you have read thus far, employed members of the community are legally protected at work, but that doesn’t mean that discrimination has vanished.

In 2021, the professional body for HR and people development, CIPD, conducted some research and created a report on experiences directly from LGBTQ+ identifying employees and found that:

[They] are more likely to experience workplace conflict and harassment than their heterosexual, cisgender counterparts. 40% of LGB+ workers and 55% of trans workers have experienced such conflict, compared with 29% of heterosexual, cisgender employees.

The executive summary of the report highlights that the CIPD believes that social justice should be the primary driver for more inclusive workplaces, built on the principles of fairness, transparency and equality of opportunity.

The fact that inclusivity isn’t on the minds of some employees, and more worryingly, employers is (to put it bluntly), nonsensical and absurd.

LGBTQ+ at Click???????

Self-expression, freedom, and equality is still an imaginary world, far into the future for many. At this moment in time, inclusion is not a given. In a society where work can potentially take up a lot of time in the lives of individuals, inclusive workplaces have a huge part to play in this making this imaginary world, a reality.

At Click, we realise that just changing our logo to the colours of the LGBTQ+ flag isn’t enough to take a stance against inequality and discrimination – so we’re writing this in the hopes to shed some light and educate people on LGBTQ+.

We understand that members of the community may experience unique hardships and tough times that others might not ever experience for themselves. We’re proud to be an inclusive employer, and encourage team members to be true to their identities in a safe space where they feel free to express who they really are.

We are a workplace that offers support to every single member of the team, equally.

We also acknowledge that team members may not be ready to “come out” to anyone, let alone colleagues. The courage to be unapologetically ‘you’ will come, and whether it takes days, months or years we hope we’ll be there to see you prosper and shine.