A 2018 survey by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation found that 46% of LGBTQIA+ workers reported being closeted at work and 20% reported searching for a different job because their workplace was unwelcoming to LGBTQIA+ individuals. These findings show that there’s still a long way to go before the standard workplace is fully inclusive for LGBTQIA+ employees.
Some heterosexual, cisgender people think of themselves as allies to the LGBTQIA+ community, maybe even going so far as to self-designate as such through signage in their workspace or on their personal effects. But do LGBTQIA+ individuals actually perceive them to be allies? To answer this question, in this Harvard Business Review article, Jacqueline M. Chen and Samantha Joel share recommendations based on the results of a four-year project to investigate how LGBTQIA+ individuals determine whether someone is an ally.
They found that, according to LGBTQIA+ identified people, being a good ally has three components: being accepting, taking action, and having humility.
Be accepting.
As an ally, your behaviours need to demonstrate that you accept and validate LGBTQIA+ individuals’ gender and/or sexual identities. Acceptance is foundational to good allyship. However, although participants rated it as the most critical component of the three they discovered, the results indicate that it’s not sufficient on its own.
Take action.
Allies are people who take action to improve the climate around them and to improve themselves. Examples of taking action include: “speak out against anti-LGBTQIA+ discrimination” and “seek out opportunities to learn about LGBTQIA+ issues.” Taking action starts with the self. Do you educate yourself to learn about the issues impacting LGBTQIA+ individuals, whether in your workplace or in your broader community? Doing this requires time, energy, and listening, and it may even be upsetting at times — but the process is important for self-improvement.
Have humility.
The final component of allyship the authors discovered is humility. Being humble involves trying to truly learn about LGBTQIA+ issues from members of the community rather than performing allyship in order to make a good impression. To develop humility, ask yourself: When issues of diversity and inclusion come up in the workplace, are you truly listening, or are you more interested in managing others’ impressions of you?
You can access the original article here.
