PRIDE MONTH: A cross-cultural perspective on LGBT+

It's Pride month and time to celebrate, but also to spread awareness and fight for better conditions and inclusion of LGBT+ individuals.

One of our clients - a big multicultural and international company headquartered in Denmark - asked us this year to do a research project analysing 5 different DE&I parameters in 35 different markets.

Why?

Because they wanted to develop market-specific DE&I strategies acknowledging that when it comes to DE&I, one size doesn't fit all markets!

Working to promote and improve well-being and rights of LGBT+ individuals is an important agenda for many companies (not only this month). But LGBT+ is a DE&I focus area demanding a high level of care and attention for global organizations. This is mainly due to the fact that cultural perceptions of LGBT+ individuals differ across countries and LGBT+ rights that are legally protected in some countries, are not legally protected in others - and moreover criminalized in some cultural contexts.

Analysing societal norms, cultural practices, and legal frameworks within a company's global markets is - in our opinion - the only way to provide a sufficiently nuanced understanding, that can enable a company to target DE&I interventions in each local markets.

Our research showed that both legal framework regarding LGBT+ rights and the societal acceptance of LGBT+ individuals vary significantly across markets and countries - which of course means approaching this diversity factor with special attention. 

That doesn't mean avoiding action - businesses can play a crucial role by advocating for positive change and contributing to a cultural shift towards acceptance and inclusion of LGBT+ employees - but actions should be taken with a high level of cultural sensitivity

Research studies, blindspot and cultural biases

Several research studies have investigated LGBT+ rights and living conditions across different countries worldwide. For a global company that is headquartered in Denmark, being mindful of potential cultural biases regarding LGBT+ is of extreme importance. Denmark ranks at the top, particularly in terms of legal rights, but also – in a global comparative perspective - in terms of societal and cultural acceptance. This highlights the need for cultural awareness when expanding Headquarters’ DE&I ambitions and strategies globally. Initiatives that may elevate LGBT+ employees in a Danish context could have negative repercussions in other cultural contexts, potentially causing harm to the very individuals these initiatives are meant to support. 

An example of LGBT+ scores in regard to legal rights and societal and cultural acceptance (total score = 100 on both parameters) in 9 selected countries.

Conclusions from our research study

We ended out with a 230 pages report and a lot of market-specific and cross-markets conclusions that we cannot share here, but let me share 2 out of many interesting findings.

Not surprisingly, our research revealed significant fluctuations in both legal rights and societal acceptance across the 35 markets regarding LGBT+. The overarching conclusion is therefore that no universal alignment can be achieved within the DE&I category of LGBT+. Instead differentiated market-specific strategies needs to be developed.

Religion and LGBT+

Perhaps not surprisingly, but nonetheless an important insight revealed by our research, concerns the interplay between religion and LGBT+ rights and societal acceptance. Studies indicate that the predominant religion to a certain extend shapes each country's level of acceptance towards the LGBT+ community. Interestingly, we observed a trend of greater acceptance of gender fluidity in countries where Buddhism and Hinduism were predominant religions. In these religions, gender has historically been viewed as a more fluid concept, providing a higher level of acceptance to those identifying with transgender or non-binary genders. Our research reflects this not only trough societal acceptance but also within the legal frameworks concerning non-binary and transgender individual. For instance, Indian passports now offer an "O" gender descriptor for "Other," acknowledging gender diversity beyond the traditional male and female binary.

Resistance towards gender identities in Western and Northern European societies:

In Western and Northern European countries, there is generally strong legislative and public support for LGBT+ rights and inclusion. However, an emerging nuance lies in the distinction between sexuality rights and gender identity. While support for the former remains high, the latter is encountering resistance. This ranges from instances of “woke fatigue” and irritation towards non-binary pronouns on one end of the spectrum, to incidents of physical threats and discrimination on the other.

In conclusion, developing market-specific strategies based on the country-specific knowledge and data, along with a deeper understanding of the nuances within the LGBT+ community, should be integral to evaluating how to approach each market when developing DE&I strategies.

#globalDE&I #DE&I-REPORT #LGBT+ACROSSCULTURES

Mikkel Hougaard Orlovski , ConnectingCultures