Is the industry really inclusive for LGBTQ individuals?

5 min readNov 24, 2018

It is the end of 2018, but the issue of inequality and lack of diversity is far from being resolved. What does the industry look like today? What is the state of LGBTQ diversity, and how can it be improved?

Case study — Facebook

Most people would agree that the ‘Facebook’ brand has a very open-minded and accepting ‘vibe’. Facebook heavily invested in its diversity and inclusion programs, and made sure that these are well-known across the world, outside the company’s walls. A great example:

700 employees march with Mark Zuckerberg @ SF Pride in 2013

Our starting point is that Facebook is a safe, accepting workplace for LGBTQ individuals, meaning that it is the place that will most likely have the best and brightest statistics about LGBTQ employees. I personally have a lot of respect for the incredible amount of effort and finances that Facebook invests in diversity, equal opportunities, and underrepresented communities.

So what is the data?

Facebook published its diversity data, and for the first time, in 2016, it included LGBTQ statistics as well. The data represents 61% of Facebook’s workforce. Here is the breakdown*:

7% out of all employees — identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, asexual.
67% out of all employees are men, 33% are women.
In coding, 83% are men, 17% are women.

These statistics are not meant to ‘trash’ Facebook, quite the opposite. These statistics show that we have a real problem in the industry with many people and communities still being under-represented, and even the incredible amount of money and effort invested in such a global brand as Facebook is not enough to resolve that.

Deep dive

Transgender and gender-fluid people usually suffer the most from bullying, under-representation and being underpaid. How bad is it?

2% of Github’s employees identify as transgender. Again, not to trash Github, rather show a clear picture.

What about the salaries and pay gap?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/09/06/transgender-people-find-flexibility-barriers-tech/89369436/

Wow, that’s incredible. Going sarcastic here — maybe the gender change or fluidity confused our dear employers, and they weren’t sure whether they should pay ‘a bit’ less because the employee is a member of the LGBTQ community, or whether they should pay ‘a lot’ less because the employee is a woman.

I honestly believe that a lot of companies truly fight for diversity and invest in their employees, making sure they have equal opportunities.

Yet, many companies do that just to calm down the investors, following a trend, trying to say ‘yeah yeah sure, we accept everyone, just work’, while still maintaining an uncomfortable atmosphere, and sometimes even bullying.

Case study 2 — Google

It might surprise you, but Google has a very long way to go in order to really improve its LGBTQ statistics.

For example, in the recent Diversity report, there are no statistics at all about the representation of LGBTQ employees in the company. The only mention of the LGBTQ community is in a tiny font, showing that since 2014 Google invested over $1B in LGBTQ communities (For what we are very grateful, but come on, where’s the diversity data? Why are the numbers hidden?).

Google suffered from several negative stories which were published recently, drawing a pretty negative picture of ‘pretending to be diverse’:

Alleged firing a transgender man for opposing his co-workers’ bigotry and white-supremacy [Link]
The Dirty war inside Google [Link]
Investors pressure Google over diversity [Link]

These examples might not indicate a strategy or a company-wide state of mind. There are many positive feedbacks about a comfortable environment at Google which truly makes its employees feel welcome. The thing is — if these cases frequently happen at global giant enterprises which are constantly monitored by the press, can you imagine what happens at smaller companies and startups that aren’t criticised as often, and usually escape the public’s attention?

It is way worse. Bigots manage teams, embrace uncomfortable environments, make jokes at the expense of others, and do not care about what happens right under their noses. During my career, there have been countless times that I overheard coworkers and managers talking in a very disrespectful way about anyone who is not your typical ‘white-twink-gay-best-friend’. And they weren’t necessarily doing that because they are bad people. Most of them were behaving this way because they are afraid of the unknown and the unfamiliar. And in order to stop being afraid of the unknown and unfamiliar — one needs to learn to accept those who are different, which is achieved by education.

The Reason & Solution

I have been working for several companies in different industries throughout my career. I initiated and took part in various diversity & inclusion councils, and was responsible for diverse and equal hiring. In all cases, I noticed the same thing:

There aren’t many candidates that are women, LGBTQ, and other underrepresented individuals. The reason? These communities and individuals have a hard time getting proper education since they are mistreated and bullied, while the mistreating and bullying party is acting this way because it wasn’t educated and taught to behave otherwise, and accept unique and different people.

A research conducted by GLAAD* in 2015 found that increased knowledge about LGBTQ people leads to lower levels of discomfort toward them, and thus can reduce LGBTQ discrimination.

The reason for bigotry: Lack of education.
One of the reasons that underrepresented communities are still underrepresented: Lack of education.
The solution to both: Education.

What can you do?

Join Diversity & Inclusion councils at your workplace. If there isn’t such a council — it would be a great initiative to start one. You would be promoting the community, and many coworkers will join the cause and be sincerely grateful to you for your initiative.
Join global organisations like Unicorns In Tech and take part in their events and activities. Not only you will be promoting diversity, but you will also have a lot of fun.
Share your knowledge & experience. Educate. Find a local LGBTQ teenagers support group, and lecture them about the tech industry. Go to schools and community groups and host lectures and workshops. Contact your local Council — they will have a wide range of organisations that need your support and thrive for your knowledge.

All of us need to empower the people, all the people. Educate in order to achieve true equality and acceptance. And each one of us can help a great deal in order to promote that cause.

If you are an individual looking to improve the state of diversity and inclusion at your workplace, or just a person looking to chat on the matter, feel free to schedule a free consultation meeting with me via my Calendly.