This week’s round-up of news of consequence to the queer professional community: missives from The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Dot Gay, Grindr, Rentboy, and Indiana, Missouri, and Michigan.
FAA removes “disorder” label from transgender pilots
First, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) removed the word “disorder” from the records of transgender pilots this week allowing them speedier certification for flying. The Transgender Pilots Association advocated for years for the change. Transgender advocacy group TransValid cheered the change, tweeting: “Fantastic news!”
Grindr mentioned in BloombergBusiness
You don’t usually read about Grindr on BloombergBusiness. But there it was this week. Grindr’s recent social media gambit with fashion designer J.W.Anderson during London Fashion Week made an impression, or rather, hundreds of thousands of impressions. The gay hook-up app exclusively live-streamed Anderson’s runway show, which meant, as BloombergBusiness noted, that “anyone who is not a gay man seeking companionship, but who wanted to watch the show, would have had to download a slightly seamy new app to his phone.” Brilliant move or bust? Anderson should begin to know business answer when the collection is released later this year.
Rentboy.com CEO indicted
Remember the headline FBI bust of Rentboy.com last August? This week federal prosecutors finally indicted founder and CEO Jeffery Hurant for promoting prostitution, and other activities. Gay community activists remain outraged by the Department of Homeland Security’s attack on the business. Even the New York Times expressed dismay in an editorial, noting that the $10 million dollars the Rentboy.com brought in over the last 5 years is “less revenue than an average McDonald’s franchise generates” and that Amnesty International is seeking to decriminalize consensual sex work. Federal authorities, the Times editorial board further wrote, “have provided no reasonable justification for devoting significant resources, particularly from an agency charged with protecting America from terrorists, to shut down a company that provided sex workers with a safer alternative to street walking or relying on pimps.” Snap!
Dot gay internet domain appears doomed
And in further internet news, it looks like the dot gay domain may be heading to the dustbin. The push to make dot gay a primary internet domain hit a major bump this week when the Econominst Intelligence Unit submitted a report saying that the term gay is not “a well-known abbreviation for the community of LGBTQIA,” according to a release from Dot Gay. Huh? Seems like there must be more to this story. The final arbiter of the decision to create a dot gay domain rests with ICANN. Expect a decision in February. But it doesn’t look good.
To and from on non-discrimination bills in Michigan, Missouri, Indiana and Illinois
And a round-up of state nondiscrimination bills:
In Missouri, business leaders were split on whether to advance that state’s LGBT non-discrimination bill. At a legislative committee hearing, some businesses saw the bill as a way of making the state more welcoming; other businesses saw it as a chance for more litigation. The committee has yet to vote on the bill. This still seems like a long way off till a final vote.
And in Michigan, LGBT advocacy organization Fair Michigan withdrew its attempt for a statewide referendum on an LGBT non-discrimination bill when two of the state’s largest partners in the push, Equality Michigan and ACLU, said they didn’t see the numbers adding up to success at this time.
And remember national outrage over Indiana’s religious liberty bill last year? The push is still on there to find legislation that balances religious freedom fears with support for LGBT civil rights in a way that doesn’t subject the state to widespread ridicule. After several attempts, a new bill was introduced by Republicans this past week that Democrats still say falls short, particularly due to its lack of transgender protections. Conservatives expressed dismay that the bill may infringe too much on religious liberty. Can they find a happy balance in Indiana? Good luck!
Survey: Most LGBT professionals not comfortable being out at work
Next in a report that is usually quite upbeat about LGBT business progress were some dismaying numbers on LGBT professionals. In UK-based Stonewall organizations annual Workplace Equality Index, ranking the 100 best businesses on LGBT issues, only 27% of 600,000 LGBT professionals surveyed felt comfortable being out in their workplace. That’s lower than one might think you’d find in England’s progressive LGBT climate. So what gives? Kathryn Nawrockyi, gender equality director for Business in the Community (BITC), a major business-led UK public good advocacy organization, offered a possible explanation: “We have equality for LGBT people on the surface such as equality of marriage but abuse and hate crime is still a problem,” she told Forbes online. “Many employees are still nervous about being out at work and the fear of abuse and bullying is likely to be a key part of this.”
Sarah Foster from Stonewall offered another possible assessment, telling Forbes: “I’ve seen organizations getting effective at reaching out to LGBT workforce but a big proportion of the workforce think it’s a fluffy thing to do.”
So perhaps the question is when will businesses move beyond marketing hype, like pushing for higher ratings in high-profile ranking indices, and get to substantive change? And what will that take? You can find more of my thoughts on this on my recent blog post “The Rise of the Out LGBT Professional” at www.BostonSpiritMagazine.com or on LinkedIn.
Little org gets big grant
And in a happy final shout out for the little guys, Out MetroWest, which provides supportive educational programs for middle and high school-aged youth across Metro- and Western Massachusetts got its biggest one-time grant ever: $20,000 from Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation. “We are excited for what this means for our life-enhancing, life-saving programs,” said Jack Patrick Lewis, executive director of the group.
And that’s a good reminder for the close of this week’s LGBT Business Report, Jack. From the Federal Aviation Administration to multinational Grindr marketing campaigns to out business professionals, it’s helpful to remember that it can all start with saving the life of a confused and anxious budding LGBTQ teenager.
And that’s the LGBT Business Report this week.
