In the Workplace - Myth 2: Biphobia is a heterosexual problem
Busting myths around bisexuals in the workplace: From the pitfalls of coming out to prejudice and professional isolation, bisexuals explain the challenges they face at work —
Myth 2: Biphobia is a heterosexual problem — It’s not just Emma’s heterosexual colleagues who have raised an eyebrow about her sexuality. Bringing her opposite-sex partner to office LGBT events was frowned upon and she sometimes felt more acceptance with gay-friendly heterosexual colleagues.
One way in which companies are trying to reach out to their LGBT employees is through their diversity networks. But previous Stonewall research found that bisexual men and women often feel excluded from these groups.
Milena Popova is trying to change all that in her company, Proctor and Gamble. Despite the consumer goods company being named one of Stonewall’s top 100 gay-friendly employers this year, Popova claims bisexuality is still new territory and their LGBT network only began focusing on it in the past year. She says historically the company has had a one-size-fits-all approach to LGBT employees, attracting mostly gay men to its network Gable, which Milena leads for the UK and western Europe.
Milena says one of the basics that is very easy for employers to get wrong is to only talk about lesbian and gay employees. “I have been to industry events and LGBT conferences where people persistently talk about lesbian and gay, but never mention bisexuals,” Milena says. “So we’re making a concerted effort to make sure we’re not doing that, that we are specifically calling out bisexual and transgender and are supportive of the full spectrum of LGBT employees.”
