It’s been an incredible Pride month, with a wide range of activities across BAM to celebrate our LGBTQ+ network. It was both inspiring and humbling and as part of lots of conversations we held, I was asked for my view on how we are doing.
Well…I worry about bubbles. Bubbles are where we all naturally want to be. Surrounded by those who like us and whom we like. Those who respect us and we, in turn, respect. Those who think like us.
This may sound great, but the problem with bubbles is that they rapidly become echo chambers and run the risk that bad ideas seem good. Looking back at history, almost all bad decisions were made because individuals convinced themselves that everyone thought like them and their view of the world was the only valid one.
Last Friday, my wife and I were at the 15-year anniversary drinks of our friends Mark and Adam, who had one of the first civil partnerships in the country. We talked about Pride month and about how much has changed over the past decade and a half. About how their relationship is now no different to any other. About how they are more worried about the overgrown lawn and broken tumble-dryer than facing any form of hostility at work. About how discrimination doesn’t really exist any longer.
But this is a bubble. And this is my worry. For it doesn’t take much to find cases of genuine workplace discrimination even in the UK. Similar to gender equality, even though we have some of the best equality laws in the world in this country, every day there are millions of micro-aggressions that still reinforce many of the old prejudices. I worry that even though I don’t see it in my bubble, there is still discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, whether it be negative language in the office or holding non-inclusive team-bonding sessions. These need to be called out with the same challenge as any prejudice.
