What Gays Have to Offer the Business Community
By Andy Heath
When I was in college, I did a presentation in a business class about workplace discrimination against gays. In my research, I had found that employers were more likely to discriminate against us after they had hired us than during the application process because they often do not realize we are gay until after we have started working with the employer.
One thing my professor had noted during my presentation is that gays often bring a lot to their places of employment because we have so much more time to offer and are less likely to have families to take care of. He also noted that we can be loyal to employers and do very good work just like straight people. So that begs the question: Why do employers discriminate against us anyway?
I think we find the answer in the ignorance of those employers. Suppose, for example, that gays were not excellent employees. Suppose instead that our work was merely average. The question of why employers choose to discriminate against us would still be valid even then. But the fact that we often make excellent employees at whatever level we find ourselves makes the question even more valid. Companies exist to make money ultimately; it does not make sense from that standpoint to discriminate against a group of people that help them in that endeavor.
I suppose I am preaching to the choir in this case, as I figure most of my readers actually are gay. Though for those of you that are straight and for those of you that are gay with a great deal of responsibility in your organization, I would encourage you to give thought to the question above. If it does not make sense to discriminate against gays, then you might consider saying so to your bosses. You might consider hiring a diverse workforce, a workforce that includes people of different sexual orientation. You might educate your coworkers about the terrible effects of discrimination, including low morale and low trust in an organization. After all, if the boss discriminates against gays, what's to say that another group will not be next?
Gays have a lot to offer the business community. We are a smart, educated population that can help companies rise to the next level. But before we can do that, companies have to decide to stop discriminating against us.
