How to celebrate LGBT+ History Month meaningfully in your workplace

An Interview with Matheus Carvalho and Ruth-Anne Eghan

For LGBT+ History Month, I&D Consultant Ruth-Anne Eghan has interviewed Director of Global Inclusion Matheus Carvalho on the meaningful ways in which the month could be meaningfully celebrated within your workplace. Read on for ideas, inspiration, and perspectives.

Ruth: Can you tell us the most meaningful experience you’ve had at work during LGBT+ month?

Matheus: With a previous employer of mine, I used to be the lead of the LGBT network, and we hosted a series of movie events every LGBT History Month. We had a Queer Film Festival and even though I love movies, this was not just about the movies – it was the opportunity to bring people together to watch queer stories, to talk about them, and to remind ourselves of the importance of representation of visibility. It was really beautiful, entertaining and meaningful.

Ruth: How can people who are not part LGBTQ+ community be allies not just within the month but all year round?

Matheus: A small but meaningful way to start is by allies finding ways to feel comfortable to talk about LGBTQ+ identities, queer stories… or even small actions like talking about a TV show that they saw with queer identities or narratives or film, talk about their LGBTQ+ friends, family and topical events.

It’s about bringing the community and its different identities into everyday conversation and everyday life. And so that we’re not just segregating the community to those key times of the year, such as History Month and Pride Month.

It’s about actions of allyship, like standing up for your LGBTQ+ colleagues. Not only in the workplace, but friends and people – challenging homophobic, transphobic, queerphobic discourse. In a nutshell, being visible, being vocal.

Ruth: What practical things can organisations do to meaningfully support employees within the LGBTQ+ community?

Matheus: Starting with the foundations of creating safe spaces, such as having strong policies. Give visibility to LGBTQ+.

Create a culture where discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is not accepted. Hopefully, this will inspire other people who haven’t always felt safe to either be out in the workplace or out as an ally.

Organisations should think about how they can make their activism and support truly meaningful as opposed to just performative, because it can be easy to stick to just waving a flag but not truly doing anything meaningful such as, for example, supporting your employees that are being discriminated against.

Having, as we mentioned, policies, or supporting the creation of an LGBTQ+ network in your workplace to make that support truly meaningful and sustainable.

Ruth: The theme of LGBTQ+ month this year is ‘Medicine #UnderTheScope’, how can we ensure that impactful conversations are held in the workplace?

Matheus: ‘Under the scope’ is an opportunity to shine a light on the LGBTQ + community within the modern and historical world of medicine. If you work within the medical and healthcare setting it as a particularly wonderful opportunity to celebrate and learn about your LGBTQ + colleagues. Think about what events you can host to celebrate – learn more in our LGBTQ + awareness day page.

Regardless of the industry that you’re in, it’s important to recognise the contributions of queer people to your industry or to your sector, as there’s that element of storytelling across all industries. It could be considering what are the key LGBTQ+ people that have made contributions to your sector or industry or organisation, for instance.

Ruth: Who is your LGBTQ+ month icon this year bearing in mind the theme of this year’s LGBT History Month?

Matheus: My icon is Margarethe Cammermeyer. She is a former military nurse and worked as Chief Nurse of the Washington National Guard, and in 1989 when responding to a routine security clearance question, she disclosed that she is a lesbian. This prompted the National Guard to begin the process to discharge her, and she was indeed discharged in 1992. Margarethe began a lawsuit against the decision, which she won and returned to serve in the military until she retired in 1997. Her case resulted in the military implementing a ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy which prohibited soldiers from disclosing their sexuality whilst in the military. She campaigned publicly against this and fought for its repeal until long after she retired. In 2011 the law was revoked and LGBTQ + soldiers were openly allowed to serve in the US military. Her story has been turned into a film, Serving in Silence.

Ruth: How important is having an intersectional lens in this area to ensure that the uniqueness of every individual in this community is respected and celebrated at work?

Matheus: I think we need to be ensuring that we are celebrating the LGBTQ+ community in all its nuances. In all its complexities. Even within the community, it’s important for people to understand what power and privilege they hold which allows them to be a better ally to other identities.

For example, as a gay man, I understand that gay men were at one point one of the most persecuted members of society, especially during the AIDS pandemic and even before that. I’ve seen in my lifetime the shift to gay men being the most visible members of the LGBTQ+ community, at least in the Western part of the world.

As a white gay man, I understand that this shift in perception has put me in a position of power in certain contexts, and I need to use that power to help give a platform to voices that are still marginalised, even more so than I have ever been.

For example, we need to be hearing from black queer voices, from Latino queer voices, from non-binary voices, and transgender voices. It would be such a disservice to such a beautifully diverse community if all we are getting is one perspective all the time.