How Can I Get My Employer to Start a Gay and Lesbian Employee Group?
Answered by Kim I. Mills, HRC's former education. Jan. 2, 2001
Q: I've contacted my human resources department, which sent me to the legal department, trying to begin a discussion about starting a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender networking group in my company.
Basically, they shot me down, saying the company's resources cannot be used for this purpose. I'm not particularly good at arguing or debating. Would you have a canned letter, or can you point me to a webpage that would have arguments FOR creating this kind of group at work? I'm not ready to give up on this yet.
Thanks,
David
A: Dear David,
One of the first steps toward achieving workplace equality is to form an employee group. Many workplaces have long been hospitable to employee groups for African Americans, Latinos, women and other minorities. Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) groups serve many of the same purposes.
If your company already supports employee resource groups for other minorities, you have an advantage. You are in an even stronger position if your company has a non-discrimination policy that covers sexual orientation. (If it doesn't, this might be the first order of business for the GLBT group you help to create.) Most companies want to be viewed as respecting and promoting diversity; your proposal should point out that diversity in today's workplace includes the gay community.
Frame your request as seeking parity with these other employee resource groups, if they exist. Build a strong business case for your proposal. A GLBT employee resource group can be a useful point of contact for managers who wish to know the primary concerns of their GLBT employees. Further, GLBT employee groups can serve the company by helping it explore and implement ways to reach out to the gay community as customers, clients, investors and/or employees.
I hope you are not trying to pull this off by yourself. It helps if you can demonstrate that there are already several employees interested in creating such a group. Also, try to find yourself an ally as high up the corporate ladder as possible - maybe you know a v.p. with a gay brother or lesbian daughter.
HRC WorkNet has a list of GLBT employee resource groups at nearly 200 major employers in the United States - many of them affiliated with the biggest and most successful companies in this country. A large number of these groups have their own websites, which detail some excellent programs. Take a look at some of these and use them to demonstrate how a GLBT group could be beneficial to your company and its image in the marketplace. (I would suggest you start by checking out LEAGUE at AT&T, the oldest and one of the largest GLBT resource groups in the world (www.league-att.org). LEAGUE has succeeded because it sees itself as a business partner with AT&T. It operates its own foundation, which offers scholarships. It's involved in community events and works tirelessly to promote AT&T as a fair employer.)
If the company continues to balk and refuses to offer resources (i.e., money), ask if you can at least have meeting space and/or use the company's e-mail system to organize.
Good luck!
Kim I. Mills
Mills is HRC's education director and oversees HRC WorkNet.
Jan. 2, 2001