Campaign #QueerAtWork for IDAHOBIT
The International Day against Homophobia, Bi-, Inter- and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) has been celebrated annually on May 17 since 2005 to highlight discrimination against the LGBT*IQ community, to raise awareness of existing inequality structures and to take a united stand for diversity and tolerance. May 17 marks the day in 1990 when the WHO removed homosexuality from the diagnostic code for diseases. For this year’s IDAHOBIT, we are calling on all LGBTIQ employees, regardless of their company, to post a portrait photo on their social media channels with the hashtag #QueerAtWork.
How can i participate in the Campaign?
- Inform and approach LGBT*IQ people from your own network and beyond to make them aware of the campaign
- Create a portrait photo using the templates, whether printed out or digitally using a tablet. (Be sure to clarify in advance whether you may use the employer’s company logo along with the template. Instead, you can use the company name or use the template without company information.)
- Send us your photo and signed consent form to use your photo as part of the campaign until May 13.
- Post your own campaign photo along with the statement on May 17 2021, 9:00 am (CEST) with the respective hashtags and taggings on whatever social media channels you use
All the information, including the statement and template for the action, as well as the consent form, can be found summarized here as a download.
Hashtags
#IDAHOBIT2021
#QueerAtWork
#ProutAtWork
#FlaggeFürVielfalt
#LGBT
#[Diversity-Hashtag of your company]
#[Diversity-Hashtag of your corporate network]
Taggings
PROUT AT WORK
Facebook: @PrOut@Work
Instagram: @proutatwork
LinkedIn: @PROUT AT WORK-Foundation
Twitter: @proutatwork
If applicable, own company
Position yourself and your company as a supporter of the campaign and call on employees and executives to participate. Use the campaign to effectively advocate against LGBT*IQ discrimination internally and externally. The campaign is based on an idea by Magenta Pride, Deutsche Telekom’s LGBT*IQ employee network, and is supported by it.
We look forward to a successful campaign!
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Campaign: #theLworksout for Lesbian Visibility Day
In contrast to many gay people, lesbian persons and also bisexual women are often not perceived, one speaks of Lesbian Invisibility. To this day, there are few visible lesbian role models – especially in the business context. In many networks lesbian persons are in the minority. As a result, there is a lack of role models for new and younger colleagues. Through the cross-network and cross-sector campaign #theLworksout on April 26, we can empower openly lesbian people and together create visibility through a large number of participants, as well as highlight the diversity of lesbian people.
HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE IN THE campaign?
- Inform lesbian people from your own network and beyond to make them aware of the action.
- Create a portrait photo using the templates, whether printed or digitally with the tablet. You are also welcome to use the template in grayscale, for example. (Make sure to clarify in advance whether you are allowed to use the employer’s company logo together with the template. Instead, you can use the company name or use the template without the company name).
- Post your own campaign photo on 26.04.2021 from 10:00 am with the respective hashtags and taggings on the social media channels you use
Hashtags
#theLworksout
#LesbianVisibilityDay
#LesbianVisibility
#LesbischeSichtbarkeit
#LGBTIQBusinessLadies
#ProutAtWork
#LGBTIQRoleModels
#FlaggeFürVielfalt
Taggings
PROUT AT WORK
Facebook: @PrOut@Work
Instagram: @proutatwork
LinkedIn: @PROUT AT WORK-Foundation
Twitter: @proutatwork
If applicable, own company
Position yourself and your company as a supporter of the campaign and for lesbian visibility and call on employees to participate.
The campaign was initiated jointly by the PROUT AT WORK-Foundation and LGBT*IQ business networks. The Lesbian and Gay Association (LSVD) and Wirtschaftsweiber e.V. support the campaign.
We look forward to a successful campaign!
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Since the publication of the joint position paper on blood donation in April 2020 with the co-initiator METRO AG and 15 other signatories, PROUT AT WORK has been publicly campaigning for a change in the hemotherapy guideline. Companies bear social responsibility: In this context, many provide premises for blood donation and call on employees to donate blood. An amended guideline will enable companies to offer a non-discriminatory working environment and at the same time fulfill their social responsibility.
On March 24, the Health Committee held a hearing on the topic of blood donation, at which PROUT AT WORK-board member Albert Kehrer was invited as an expert, among others. In the Live Talk he reported on his experiences and Nikita Baranov, Executive Assistant to CHRO at METRO AG picked you up with his impulse lecture on the topic of blood donation. He explained why it is important to advocate for policy change right now and how companies can contribute. Unfortunately, the video is only available in German.
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Go directly to the hearing “Expertenstreit über die Zulassung zur Blutspende” here:
LGBT*IQ people are still not protected by Article 3 in the German Constitution. Many people from the LGBT*IQ community experience discrimination, exclusion and hate violence. We feel that a protection by the Constitution is indispensable and thus PROUT AT WORK is one of the first signatories of the appeal “A Basic Law for All”.
Federal government and Bundestag are currently negotiating the deletion of the term “race” in Article 3 of the Constitution. Let’s join together to send a strong message to politicians that sexual orientation and gender identity must be added to the article as well.
Our board member Albert Kehrer talked with Tagesgespräch host Christine Krueger about the question “Why is Coming Out still difficult”. The conversation can now be listened to online.
Once a month our board member Albert Kehrer invites an inspiring role model of the LGBT*IQ community or an LGBT*IQ Ally for a chat. You can look forward to an interesting exchange about role models and visibility in the LGBT*IQ community.
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Guest of the day
Nick Mott
Senior Adviser at Dentons; Chair Dentons Global LGBT+ network
100 OUTstanding LGBT+ Executives Role Model Lists 2018 and 2019
Nick has been at global law firm Dentons for many years, most recently as Assistant General Counsel (Partner). Between 2014 to 2019 he was also Diversity and Inclusion Partner in the UK during which he significantly raised the visibility and importance of Inclusion and Diversity within the Firm. He co-founded Dentons UK LGBT, Black Professionals and Asian Professionals (Fusion) networks, and was an early promoter of the concept of intersectionality . He also set up, and continues to chair, Dentons Global LGBT+ network which connects Dentons LGBT+ staff and their allies across its many regions, and raises awareness in a variety of ways, including an annual Dentons Global Pride Day. A passionate supporter of trans* colleagues, Nick instituted Dentons’ UK transitioning policies and related training, and has promoted greater staff awareness of trans* issues. During Nick’s tenure as D&I partner, Dentons UK was listed as a Stonewall Top 100 Employer for 4 years running. Dentons is also recognised as a Stonewall Top Global Employer 2020.
Externally Nick supports a number of LGBT+ charities including Diversity Role Models (which supports schools and pupils with LGBT+ awareness and bullying prevention) and is a volunteer with Opening Doors London as part of their tele-friending service for older LGBT+ people.
Nick retired from the partnership in 2020 and is now a senior global adviser to Dentons, advising on LGBT+ issues and awareness. He was proud to be named in the 100 OUTstanding LGBT+ Executives Role Model in 2018 and 2019.
Diversity-conscious work is a cross-sectional sociopolitical task and should be a matter of course – also in foundations. The handout “DiversitätMachtWirkung – Schritt für mehr Diversität” shows how this can be achieved, with insights into various foundations, practical advice and reading tips. Also: tips for discrimination-free recruiting from our board member Albert Kehrer!
The Diversity Handout is available for download now.
The Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences recently published a study on the situation of lesbian women in the workplace under the direction of Professor Dr. Regine Graml and with the collaboration of Prof. Dr. Tobias Hagen and Prof. Dr. Yvonne Ziegler. It discusses the intersection of homophobia and sexism and sheds light on the situation of working lesbian women in Germany in the application process and in working life.
The results of the study as well as recommendations for action for companies to eliminate discrimination were compiled in the brochure published by the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, the Bundesstiftung Magnus Hirschfeld, Wirtschaftsweiber e.V. and the PROUT AT WORK-Foundation.
You can now download thee study as a PDF and also order a printed copy. Both versions are only available in German.
A talk with… Jenny Friese
“The more heterogenous teams are and the more they make for an open culture the more they will be prepared to go in new directions and drive forward innovation.”
Last year you put in a lot of effort for the LGBT*IQ community at the Commerzbank and brought the issue right up to Board level. What has happened since then?
Jenny Friese: Through various activities we have achieved more visibility including an event about LGBT*IQ-involvement as a factor of commercial success, participated in the CSD in Berlin with our own truck and we have had a reading with Jens Schadendorf. Along with our LGBT*IQ-staff-network Arco of which I am the patron we have sensitized many people within the bank making for a more open community spirit. As a result, many staff have told their own stories in our staff magazine therefore making themselves available as role models.
Many people fear that outing themselves will damage their career. What has to happen to reduce and even eliminate this fear altogether?
Jenny Friese: It is incredible that staff even today still have such worries. For diversity to become normal we have to experience the relevant values within the company and create structures to make possible open interaction which is free of prejudice. Visible role models who have outed themselves help as do diversity units and consistent management behaviour such as dealing with discriminatory comments and behaviour. This is clearly a challenge for everybody – irrespective of their sex, nationality, health or sexual orientation.
Why are heterogenous teams more successful in companies?
Jenny Friese: The answer to this is, in the meantime, proven by many studies such as that of the Institute for Diversity and Anti-discrimination Research Out in the Office?! And this does not just apply to bringing together and promoting many different people irrespective of origin, age, sex or other characteristics for LGBT*IQ Diversity. The more heterogenous teams are and the more they make for an open culture the more they will be prepared to go in new directions and drive forward innovation. Based on my own experience I can say at least that diverse teams always produce outstanding results.