Workplace Pride: Building LGBT-inclusive corporate cultures

AMAZON, Apple, Boeing, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Facebook, GlaxoSmithKline, Goldman Sachs, Google, HewlettPackard, JPMorgan, Levi Strauss, Microsoft, Nike, Starbucks, Visa, and Walt Disney - what do these companies have in common? They are among the best places for work for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) employees. This is just a sampling of companies that uphold equality in the workplace.

Filipino companies actively replicate multinational companies' best practices. But one best practice that remains a no-go is diversity and inclusiveness, especially with workplace matters concerning LGBTs.

Despite the equal opportunity provision in the Labor Code of the Philippines many Filipino LGBTs experience sexuality- and gender-based discrimination in the workplace, which can come in the form of, among others:

• Company policies, whether written or unwritten, dictating non-preference for LGBT employees.

• An interviewer asking a job applicant "Are you gay?"

• Requiring gay applicants to produce additional requirements to be considered for a job (a gay or bisexual applicant required to submit an HIV test result; a gay male married to a woman is preferred over a single gay male for a leadership position).

• Making gender orientation or sexual preference a deciding factor when choosing between two equally qualified persons for a leadership position. This implicit limitation is metaphorically called the lavender ceiling.

• Hostile work environment including verbal or physical bullying, insulting or making fun of LGBT workers because of their gender orientation or sexual preference.

• Maliciously disclosing (outing) a worker's gender identity or sexual preference.

• Giving LGBT employees a morality lecture when they are accessing company-provided health services.

• Praying over to ' exorcise' LGBT workers of their non-conformist sexual preference and gender orientation.

• Making lesbians lift unreasonable weights.

• Out of spite, forcing lesbians, gays and transgender employees to wear company uniforms that make them feel uncomfortable.

• Terminating or demoting employees merely on the basis of being LGBT.

• Viewing LGBT employees as incapable of making meaningful contributions to company strategy. This makes LGBT employees believe that they have to be twice as good to be seriously noticed.

Discrimination that targets LGBT people stems from a lack of understanding of basic human rights and a culture that teaches fear of the different or non-conformant. Sexuality- and gender-based discrimination perpetuates stereotypes and breeds stigmatization, persecution, marginalization and invisibility of LGBTs in the workplace.

Most Filipinos think that we as a country are open to LGBTs. But this openness is conditional: it is okay to be gay as long as the gay person acts and looks straight (on the other hand, to those Filipinos who think gays should be loud and effeminate and lesbians should all look masculine, a gay person who acts otherwise is weird); it is okay to be bisexual as long as the person abstains from sexual activity; it is okay to be a transgender woman as long as that transgender woman wears a male uniform and does not use the female toilet. This openness is a false pretense. It is merely tolerance. Tolerance implies that something is wrong and has to be tolerated. Acceptance on the other hand is embracing something that is different, respecting diversity in sexuality and gender expressions.

In the Philippines call centers, entertainment media and the creative industries and human rights NGOs have become the goto workplaces for gays because these are the ones proven to be more accepting of them. These companies benefit from the infusion of creativity and talent.

Homophobics and transphobics reason that it is religion-steeped Filipino culture that compels them to treat LGBT people as inferiors, as an abomination. But guess what, the tide of Filipino culture is turning. A key finding of a Social Weather Station study conducted in February 2015 is that 85 percent of Filipinos believe that, just like them, "gays and lesbians also have the right to be protected against any form of discrimination."

A global study conducted in 2013 by Washington, D.C.based Pew Research Center shows age-bracketed portions of the Filipino population that believe that society should accept homosexuality: 68 percent among those 50 years and older, 71 percent among those 30 to 49, and 78 percent of those age 18 to 29. These numbers are 1 point to 16 points higher than those posted by American respondents of the same study. But compared to the United States where is the Philippines in terms of LGBT acceptance and empowerment? The bright spot is that younger Filipinos are more open minded than their elders and the youngest age bracket shows the highest score. They are the ones who constitute the biggest headcount in the workforce, they are tomorrow's business leaders.

It is estimated that at the minimum, 10 percent of the population is gay. A huge chunk of the 39-million Filipino labor force is being discriminated against.

LGBT employees are not asking for special rights, they are advocating for equal rights.

The downside of discriminating LGBTs includes limited productivity - a worker who does not have peace of mind cannot give 100 percent to the company - and resignation of talented employees. Workplace homophobia and transphobia can cause toxic work environments, workplace violence, legal costs, and tarnished corporate image. By not being an equal opportunity employer, the company is short changing itself. The upside is a seamless loop: harmonious professional relationships that inspire loyalty among workers that turn in unhampered productivity and top rate performance that result in market competitiveness that elevates brand equity that attracts buyers and potential employees.

The business sector heavily influences popular culture. The business sector has also shown on many occasions that it can outpace mainstream politics in mainstreaming progressive ideas that define society. The first step is to build an inclusive corporate culture. How?

• Learn from best practices of the companies listed in the introductory paragraph.

• Include diversity, equality and inclusiveness in corporate mission statements.

• Institute a zero tolerance policy for sexuality and gender discrimination in the areas of hiring, firing, promotions, professional development, benefits, and everyday professional behavior.

• Encourage of the formation of a Pride organization in the workplace.

• Reach out to credible LGBT organizations and experts to conduct diversity seminars and sexual orientation and gender identity expressions (SOGIE) training.

• Include a diversity dimension to career development planning.

• Identify allies who support and advocate for the rights of LGBT coworkers.

• Produce and disseminate stickers, Pride flags/flaglets and other collaterals that can be displayed in the workplace and during company events such as job fairs.

• Celebrate Pride Month every June.

• Stock the company library with LGBT resources.

• Include LGBT issues for discussion in business clubs and chambers of commerce.

• As corporate social responsibility, support LGBT organizations and causes outside of the workplace.

• Support the passage in Congress of the Anti-Discrimination Law.

• Specifically for government agencies, expand the scope of Gender and Development (GAD) to include LGBTs so as to enhance the impact of the GAD budget.

In his coming out statement, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that society is built brick by brick. This is a chance for Filipino companies to make LGBT inclusion one of their bricks.

(Roel is a Board Member of Katlo Inc. - a gay rights organization based in San Julian, Eastern Samar. The municipality is the first and only municipal LGU in the Philippines to have an AntiDiscrimination Ordinance. Katlo lobbied the passage of said ADO, which was championed in the local council by Roel's father, SB Member Reuel Andag. Roel is Training and Development Manager at Royal Caribbean International. The views expressed are author's own and do not necessarily represent the views of his company. Contact him at r_andag@yahoo.com.)