LGBTQ+ research from WPP reveals attitudes on gender fluidity, queer media, popping out at work and extra

Many individuals aren’t out at work—and their willingness to be open depends upon financial stability 

Solely 40% of LGBTQ+ individuals are open about their sexuality at work, and simply half are out with their gender identification, in line with the report.

These variations additionally depend upon how the individual identifies. Lesbians and homosexual males are probably to be open about their gender identities compared to individuals who determine as bisexual, pansexual or asexual.

When it comes to gender, those that are transgender usually tend to be open about their gender than people who find themselves nonbinary.

“LGBTQ+ discrimination remains to be rife within the office,” mentioned Adrien Gaubert, co-founder and chief advertising officer of U.Okay.-based LGBTQ+ enterprise neighborhood MyGWork, as quoted within the report. “Function fashions, seen acceptance by using pronouns in emails/title tags, and rainbow lanyards, alongside LGBTQ+ Worker Useful resource Teams, will go an extended option to attracting and retaining LGBTQ+ professionals.”

This willingness to share one’s identification additionally depends upon revenue degree, in line with the report’s findings. 

Excessive-income workers are 37% extra prone to be open about their gender and sexuality than low-income workers, which means that “queer folks with extra financial stability are extra comfy with expressing their sexuality and gender identification overtly within the office,” in line with the report.

Queer media is not only for queer folks—and it wants enchancment 

Straight folks need queer content material too, in line with the report—60%, to be exact. 

Though queer folks’s want for homosexual media is pretty equal throughout generations, the identical couldn’t be mentioned for straight folks. Whereas 85% of non-LGBTQ+ aged 18 to 24 need queer media, that share constantly drops with older demographics. For instance, solely 39% of these aged 65 plus need to see queer media, in line with the report. 

On the subject of illustration, simply 38% of queer folks really feel effective with how they’re represented within the media. 

“It’s nice to see that LGBTQIA+ illustration within the media is on the rise however, all too usually, manufacturers default to the homosexual male market. What concerning the lesbians, bisexual girls, trans and non-binary folks, and those that determine as queer or asexual?” mentioned Linda Riley, editor of Diva journal (stylized as “DIVA journal”), which caters to LGBTQ+ girls and lesbian-adjacent folks, quoted within the report.

Individuals who determine as trans and nonbinary, in addition to lesbians and LGBTQ+ folks of shade, are the teams who’re probably to need extra illustration, in line with the report. Usually, 83% of LGBTQ+ folks and 80% of straight folks alike suppose that LGBTQ+ characters ought to be extra various. 

This contains those that create the content material—one other 79% of LGBTQ+ and 75% of non-queer folks suppose that extra content material ought to be made by queer folks. 

“After we take a look at something that depicts LGBTQIA+ experiences, you may instantly sense whether or not it was made by queer folks or by folks wanting in from the surface,” mentioned VMLY&R’s Creativity and Inclusivity Director Jamie June Hill, quoted within the report. “Usually it’s not apparent, however merely a way of dissonance: a phrase that feels misplaced, an outfit that feels all incorrect, a stance, a house, a track…the minutia that’s straightforward to miss.”