A comprehensive, 10-year study of Fortune 500 companies has conclude that greater gender diversity at boardroom level makes for a far more inclusive workplace for LGBT people.
The study has been published by SAGE in the journal of Human Relations, in partnership with The Tavistock Institute.
The report’s authors note that non-discrimination policies and domestic partner health insurance benefits are implemented only with the support of top leadership.
They looked at whether the gender of the CEO influenced the likelihood of a company having LGBT inclusive policies, and then at the gender diversity of that company’s board. On both counts, it looked at the years 2001-2010.
It concluded that although the gender of a company’s CEO had an influence on its LGBT-friendly credentials, that influence was far more pronounced if there was diversity across the whole boardroom.
‘While women CEOs are vital for advancing a company’s commitment to domestic partnership benefits and gender identity non-discrimination polices, diverse boards are associated with the full range of LGBT-inclusive policies and practices,’ the author’s concluded.
‘Firms with a higher percentage of women on the board and those with influential women board members are more likely than other firms to adopt a broad range of LGBT- friendly policies and practices.’
‘Our study suggests that diversity advocates committed to advancing inclusive policies – including but perhaps not limited to policies related to sexual orientation and gender identity – should prioritize board diversity.’
In a press statement, one of the report’s co-authors, Alison Cook, Associate Professor at Utah State University, commented, ‘Our study is important because it shows that leadership diversity can significantly influence a company’ likelihood of adopting inclusive polices.
‘Gender diversity in the boardroom is key; women directors increase a company’s commitment to equity and fairness and advance firms’ strategic goals.’
In terms of measuring a company’s LGBT-inclusiveness, the author’s made use of Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index – a ranking of US corporations based on their policies regarding gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender staff.
Deena Fidas, head of HRC’s Workplace Equality Program, and co-author of the HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, told Gay Star Business, ‘Corporate LGBT inclusion is inextricably linked to race, gender and other salient attributes in the workplace. It’s not surprising then, that corporate boards with greater gender diversity reflect corporations that also value and engage LGBT diversity.’
The report was welcomed by others working in the field of LGBTI diversity and inclusion. Selisse Berry, CEO of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates, said, ‘It’s empowering to see that companies with a diverse board of directors are more likely to foster open and inclusive workplaces for LGBT employees and it’s not surprising that women understand the value of diversity and are willing to invest in developing it.
‘We all have attributes, skills and life experiences that contribute to the success of our work environment – LGBT employees are no different. Having a diverse board of directors that understands this helps bring together varied perspectives and ideas while also sending a strong message to LGBT employees that they are respected and valued.’
‘We strongly believe that increasing diversity within corporate governance structures has important direct and indirect impacts on company cultures and bottom-lines,’ said Juan Herrera, Director of Talent Initiatives at Out Leadership.
‘Our initiative Quorum, dedicated to increasing representation of LGBT directors on corporate boards, is particularly focused on the way that the intersectional nature of the LGBT community creates the opportunity for businesses to diversify their boards in more than one way at a time.’
The potent protection from HIV afforded by Truvada as PrEP allows men to have sex with less worry and fear of HIV. But some worry that the inclusion of PrEP as a public health strategy will lead people to abandon condoms—which still have a role to play in further reducing risk of HIV and other STIs. In San Francisco—even before PrEP’s availability in 2012—rates of STIs among men who have sex with men have been steadily increasing and rates of condom use have gone down.
BETA wanted to know—what do PrEP providers think? How do these practitioners, who see clients every three months for sexual health screenings and STI testing, talk to their clients about condom use, STIs and navigating the complicated landscape of protected, or safer, sex?
To find out, BETA talked to Stefan Rowniak, MSN, PhD, a PrEP provider and nurse practitioner at San Francisco City Clinic and researcher and assistant professor at University of San Francisco; Pierre-Cédric Crouch, PhD, ANP-BC, the nursing director at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation health and wellness center Strut; Robert Blue, a PrEP program coordinator for San Francisco City Clinic; and Hyman Scott, MD, who leads the Ward 86 PrEP Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital.
Here’s what they said.
The rates of gonorrhea, chlamydia and early syphilis infection have been on the rise in recent years in San Francisco. Do you see this as a major problem?
Pierre-Cédric Crouch, PhD, ANP-BC
Pierre-Cédric Crouch, PhD, ANP-BC: Obviously nobody wants to get gonorrhea, chlamydia, or syphilis, but these are risks that we have from living. The only way to completely avoid them is to not have sex at all and that’s not who we are as humans. You can also get the flu from having sex, or strep throat. People die from the flu. People don’t die from gonorrhea, but there’s more stigma attached to gonorrhea than the flu. The levels of STIs are going up in San Francisco—and have been since before PrEP was available here—but they’re nowhere close to what they were in the 70s and 80s.
Stefan Rowniak, MSN, PhD
Stefan Rowniak, MSN, PhD: That’s a very difficult question—but one the community is going to have to answer. If people suddenly find themselves saying, ‘My god, this is the third time I’ve gotten gonorrhea in three months,’ they may think, ‘What can we do about this?’ It’s going to take people realizing that they don’t want to get gonorrhea over and over again every time they have a new sex partner. Health providers will be there to help the discussion along—but we’re not the sex police. We are there to inform and help people make those decisions themselves.
Since gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis can all be treated, how do you talk to clients about the potential harms associated with these STIs?
Hyman Scott, MD
Hyman Scott, MD: At this time, these STIs are all treatable with antibiotics, but just because they are treatable do not mean that they are benign. What is a concern is that we are seeing rising rates of drug-resistant gonorrhea, and we shouldn’t forget that gonorrhea can cause sterility. And while syphilis is still treatable with penicillin, with the increase in total cases, we’re seeing more of the complications that come along with syphilis such as neurosyphilis, vision impairment, and vision loss. Giving people the full picture is important—not to spread fear, because we want to have a sex-positive approach when we’re talking about sex—but so that people have the information they need to make decisions about their sexual health.
Some people worry that PrEP is, or will, cause people to abandon condoms. Are your clients changing their condom use now that they’re on PrEP?
Robert Blue
Robert Blue: Yes and no. There are some people who start taking PrEP and they actually start thinking more about their sexual health. Their thought seems to be, ‘Well, I’m taking PrEP for my sexual health, why would I then go out and not use condoms?’ There are people who didn’t use condoms before PrEP, and that doesn’t change. And there are some people who, once they started taking PrEP decided to stop using condoms.
Crouch: We haven’t seen much change, but it’s difficult to measure. Some people will come in and report that they used condoms all the time before they started PrEP. But when you ask a few more questions, you find out that there were exemptions to it—the person didn’t use condoms with their main partner or those few times with their fuck buddy. So it wasn’t really 100% condom use to begin with.
Scott: I think for some clients, there is a change in the way that they decide to use condoms [on PrEP], but there’s a lot of variability. Some people may change their condom use with certain partners, but not others. With the rise in STIs and increased uptake of PrEP, there is a real desire of some to make that linkage and say that one is causal to the other. We have seen a rise in STIs before the increased uptake of PrEP. Studies that have systematically looked at this haven’t found much of an overall change in the level of condom use among PrEP users, but it will also be important to monitor as PrEP roll-out expands in more real-world settings. Anecdotally, we’ve had people who don’t change their condom use at all. It’s definitely something we need to keep track of, but at this point we don’t have data to say that initiating PrEP is the reason people change their condom use, if they change it.
Do condoms still have a role to play in gay men’s sexual health alongside PrEP?
Crouch: Condoms still have value. They do a good job of reducing transmission of gonorrhea and chlamydia—less so for syphilis. They don’t provide 100% protection, but they do have value. All in all, we don’t know five years from know how people will use condoms when they’re on PrEP. I could see it being similar to what happened for oral sex—in the 90s, when people thought you could get HIV from oral sex, there was a big push for people to use condoms for oral sex. I don’t know if that’s what people really did, but now that we know the risk of HIV transmission from oral sex is so rare, I think people in general gave up on feeling like they should use condoms for oral sex. Of course there’s still a risk of getting or transmitting other STIs but the risk of HIV is so slight with oral sex. It’s the same way for anal sex if you’re on PrEP.
Rowniak: I don’t believe people will completely abandon condoms in favor of PrEP. Rather, I think people will use condoms with some partners and in some instances and not in others. I think people feel, to a certain extent, a little frightened after spending years and years using condoms, and all of a sudden not using them at all. So the pendulum might swing back and forth until it reaches a place to settle.
Blue: We know that while PrEP is highly effective in preventing HIV transmission, it is not 100%. Many people still feel more comfortable using condoms while taking PrEP. We also know that PrEP doesn’t prevent the transmission of other STIs and that condoms can be an effective STI-prevention strategy.
Scott: Condoms absolutely have a role to play. One thing to remember is that we’ve never studied PrEP versus condoms—PrEP has always been inclusive of condoms. The package that includes PrEP is not just one pill per day. It’s about condom promotion, too. There are a variety of ways that people can have protected or safer sex, and we want to give people the tools that fit within their sex lives and support them with all of these options.
Do you advise your clients to use condoms? And if so, how do you have those conversations?
Blue: Yes, we do. Ultimately, we want people to think logically or rationally about their sex lives (acknowledging that sex is not often our most rational form of self-expression!). We want people to be able to evaluate their risk of HIV and STIs and decide on what prevention strategies make sense for them.
Rowniak: I make a point to talk with clients about when it might be appropriate to use condoms—and when it might make sense to reintroduce condoms back into sex. These conversations help get people to think about using condoms, and that’s really the first step. Introducing this new thought about condoms helps people think about ways they might like to be a little more circumspect.
Crouch: Our job is to provide education and have the client come up with their own informed sexual health plan. We tell clients that PrEP isn’t 100% effective at preventing HIV infection, even though we haven’t had any infections on PrEP yet—because nothing in life is 100%. Condoms provide extra protection against gonorrhea and chlamydia. We frame it as, ‘Using condoms with PrEP is your best overall protection.’ But we don’t lecture anyone to do, or not do, anything. We’re here to inform and help support people in whatever they decide to do. If condoms haven’t been a problem for a client, they should definitely continue to use them—though condoms aren’t always easy for people to use. They can break. Some people tell us they have trouble maintaining an erection with them. Some say condoms reduce intimacy in relationships. It’s ultimately an individual decision. There is no right or wrong answer.
Scott: I’m humble enough to know that I only get the opportunity to spend 30 minutes, maybe an hour, talking with patients about a variety of medical conditions including their sexual health, which is balanced with all the other needs and considerations in their daily lives. I give them guidance and recommendations but I don’t try to convince them to use condoms if they’ve already made up their mind about condom use. I meet my patients where they’re at and see how open they are to exploring condom use. Recently, I saw someone who was diagnosed with early syphilis. We started treatment [for syphilis] but then also talked about why he didn’t use a condom with this new partner, despite his ‘rule’ to use condoms with new partners. His response that, ‘The guy was just my type’ was incredibly insightful and understandable. So there was something powerful about desire and passion, and wanting to make a connection with his partner that influenced his decision making. So I explore the barriers and facilitators people may have for condom use, but never pass judgment on their decision.
For more information about PrEP services at the gay men’s health and wellness center in the Castro, Strut, visit www.strutsf.org. Find out more about the Ward 86 PrEP Clinic at San Francisco General Hospital. Continue learning more about PrEP at www.prepfacts.org or on BETA.
Transgender individuals may experience significant improvement in psychological functioning after as little as 3–6 months of hormone therapy, with improved quality of life reported within 12 months of initiating therapy by both female-to-male and male-to-female transgender individuals, according to an article published in Transgender Health, a new peer-reviewed open access journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available open access on the Transgender Health Web site.
Jaclyn White Hughto and Sari Reisner, Fenway Health, Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (Boston, MA), and Yale School of Public Health (New Haven, CT), reviewed the evidence from published studies of transgender adults treated with hormone therapy for gender identity disorder. The researchers report the changes in mental health status—including depression and anxiety—and quality of life outcomes after 3–6 months and 12 months of hormone treatment compared to baseline measures. They present the study design and results in “A Systematic Review of the Effects of Hormone Therapy on Psychological Functioning and Quality of Life in Transgender Individuals.”
“Reviews of the existing literature of this nature are hugely helpful in moving the field of transgender health forward,” says Editor-in-Chief Robert Garofalo MD, MPH, Professor of Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and Director, Center for Gender, Sexuality and HIV Prevention, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. “This work highlights a healthcare disparity affecting transgender people—depression and anxiety—and offers a potential therapeutic option to help eliminate or reduce it: access to hormone therapy. It sets the bar for future research to be conducted in this area, which is sorely needed and may help some clinicians caring for transgender people.”
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) released a report detailing an alarming onslaught of legislation nationwide targeting transgender people, and particularly children.
An unprecedented 44 anti-transgender bills are being considered in 16 states, and the quantity of these harmful bills is as striking as their diversity: some undercut the ability of transgender people to access gender-affirming health care; some create state-sanctioned avenues of anti-transgender discrimination; and others deny transgender people access to bathrooms, locker rooms, and athletic teams consistent with their gender identity.
The disturbing proliferation of anti-trans bills, including 23 that target children in schools and school sports, is part of a stunning surge of more than 175 anti-LGBT bills in 32 states this year.
“This deeply disturbing trend is a stark reminder of just how vicious and deplorable opponents of equality are in their relentless attacks against our community,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “HRC will continue to work with our state and national partners to vigorously oppose and work to defeat legislation that threatens the fundamental human rights of transgender people. As we work to defeat these discriminatory bills, we will also continue our efforts to advance critically-needed protections at the state, local, and ultimately the federal level for LGBT people all across this country.”
In 2015, at least 125 anti-LGBT bills were introduced in state houses all across the country. Twenty-one specifically targeted transgender people, though none became law. This year, the South Dakota legislature has already approved legislation that would, with the stroke of Gov. Dennis Daugaard’s pen, prevent transgender students in public schools from using restrooms and other facilities consistent with their gender identity.
Dozens of other anti-trans bills across the country target transgender people, and in particular kids, in myriad ways, among them:
Bills targeting transgender children at school and on school sports teams by forbidding them from having equal access to bathrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities. These measures would compromise the physical and emotional safety of transgender youth, and put them at increased risk of attack and abuse;
Bills that would deny transgender people equal access to restrooms in public places, from the coffee shop to city hall. Nearly a third of the anti-equal access “bathroom bills” would apply statewide to multi-user restrooms, locker rooms and similar facilities. If passed, some impose criminal penalties on transgender people who use restrooms consistent with their gender identity;
So-called First Amendment Defense Act (FADA) bills codifying discrimination against transgender people by explicitly permitting publicly-funded programs to refuse service on the basis of “sincerely-held religious beliefs” that a person’s gender is determined by their anatomy at the time of birth;
And measures preventing transgender people from changing their gender marker on their birth certificates; from legally marrying; and from accessing medically-necessary care.
These deeply disturbing bills are surfacing around the country, in states with gender-identity inclusive non-discrimination laws, and those without; in states led by Democrats and those led by Republicans. Many of the proposals are in conflict with other important state laws on the books. And many could put schools in violation of federal Title IX civil rights law prohibiting gender identity discrimination in education — potentially placing them at risk of losing federal funding.
Fear and a lack of understanding of transgender people are driving these egregious measures, which are addressing phantom problems, and have the potential of risking the safety, security and well-being of transgender people, including children, across the nation.
The number of tourists taking international trips increased by 4.4% to 1.2 billion in 2015, according to new figures from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
This is an increase of around 50 million tourists, and the sixth year of growth in a row. Figures last declined in 2009, by 4%.
The top destination in the world last year was France, followed by the US, Spain and China.
The figures were influenced by exchange rates, oil prices and natural and man-made crises, the organization said.
UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai commented: ‘The robust performance of the sector is contributing to economic growth and job creation in many parts of the world. It is thus critical for countries to promote policies that foster the continued growth of tourism, including travel facilitation, human resources development and sustainability’.
The organization predicts growth of 4% in 2016.
Rifai added: ‘As the current environment highlights in a particular manner the issues of safety and security, we should recall that tourism development greatly depends upon our collective capacity to promote safe, secure and seamless travel.’
He continued: ‘In this respect, UNWTO urges governments to include tourism administrations in their national security planning, structures and procedures, not only to ensure that the sector’s exposure to threats is minimized but also to maximize the sector’s ability to support security and facilitation, as seamless and safe travel can and should go hand in hand.’
This is the first of what I hope will be a forum for older LGBT adults. I hope you will share your thoughts and experiences about aging with me.
As some of you may know, I am passionate about the “conscious aging” movement and eager to share it with my LGBT community. This movement is all about changing “the aging paradigm” in a youth-obsessed culture and exploring how we can better prepare for the challenges and as well as utilize the opportunities afforded by our extended life span.
As part of a project sponsored by Adult and Aging Services and funded by the LGBTQI Giving Circle of Sonoma County, I am currently offering an 8-week series called “Aging Together With Pride!” that is being offered in four Sonoma County locations. In one of the early sessions, I was asked why I felt there was a need to focus on the LGBT community.
“Hidden, isolated, and underserved” is a phrase we often use to describe today’s LGBT seniors. Even though as LGBT seniors we are more at risk for loneliness, depression, disability, HIV/AIDS and alcohol or drug abuse, research shows that LGBT seniors are only 20% as likely as heterosexual elders to access services!
There are a couple of possible explanations. The first is that many of us quickly learned that our survival depended on staying closeted. For much of our lives being homosexual or transgender was a crime, a sin, and a mental illness. Many of us were alienated from our families, lost jobs, were victims of violence, and were incarcerated or institutionalized. We learned to be vigilant and our instinct to hide persists in spite of increasing social acceptance, often preventing us from seeking help when we need it.
The other reason is that individuals and agencies that provide the services we may need are not always sensitive to our history of being marginalized and the effects of our societal scarring. Their assumption is often that we are heterosexual, leaving us to wonder how we might be treated if we “came out” about our sexual orientation or gender identity. Fortunately the grant project also includes cultural competency trainings about these issues that are being provided to Sonoma County aging service providers by my former Spectrum colleague Nancy Flaxman.
Future blogs will explore optimal aging strategies that capitalize on our qualities and strengths as LGBT elders.
Buz Hermes is co-facilitator of the Sonoma Valley LGBT Seniors Group and a former staff member of Spectrum’s Senior Outreach Program. He has also provided supportive programs for caregivers of persons affected by HIV and AIDS and has been a coordinator of services for low-income seniors. He can be reached at [email protected].
As men age, their testosterone levels decrease, but prior studies of the effects of administering supplements of the hormone to older men have been inconclusive. Now, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and 12 other medical centers in the United States have shown that testosterone treatment for men over the age of 65 improves sexual function, walking ability and mood.
The findings are published in the February issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Researchers across the nation have partnered with the National Institute on Aging to conduct the Testosterone Trials (TTrials), a coordinated group of seven studies to analyze the hormone. The first three studies that were conducted focused on sexual function, physical function and vitality.
“Low testosterone levels can result in excessive fatigue, weakness, depression and the loss of sexual drive in men over 65,” said Elizabeth Barrett-Connor, MD, study lead at the UC San Diego School of Medicine trial site and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Public Health. “The results of the TTrials show for the first time that testosterone treatment of older men who have unequivocally low testosterone levels does have some benefit, including improved walking ability, sexual function and mood, with a decrease in depressive symptoms.”
The TTrials were led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania. Nearly 800 men enrolled in the study were randomized into two groups: one taking a daily testosterone gel for a year and the other a daily placebo gel. Efficacy was evaluated at months three, six, nine and 12.
In 2003, the Institute of Medicine reported that there was insufficient evidence to support any beneficial effect of testosterone in men age 65 and older. This report was the driving force for the TTrials, which are now the largest trials in the nation to examine the efficacy of testosterone treatment in older men whose levels are low, based on age alone.
Barrett-Connor adds that decisions about testosterone treatment for these men will also depend on the results from the remaining four studies in the TTrials, which include cognitive function, bone density, cardiovascular and anemia and have not yet been conducted.
The 13 medical centers involved in the TTrials are: UC San Diego School of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Puget Sound Health Care System, University of Florida School of Medicine, University of Minnesota School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health and Yale School of Medicine.
The TTrials were supported, in part, by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (U01 AG030644). They were also supported by funds from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke and National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Today, Here Media, the world’s leading LGBT media and marketing strategy firm, and video streaming platform, Vimeo partnered on a new initiative to spotlight the groundbreaking work being created by LGBT filmmakers. The partnership extends Vimeo’s commitment to diversity in the LGBT space with an investment in quality LGBT programming. The deal also allows Vimeo to directly reach the influential LGBT consumer through marketing and advertising campaigns that will run across Here Media’s iconic brand platforms, including The Advocate, OUT, Pride.com, Here TV, and Plus magazine.
Paul Colichman, CEO of Here Media shared, “By partnering with Vimeo, Here Media further expands its community of storytellers, innovators and influencers and upholds its mission to give a creative voice to all people in the LGBT space, as well as bridging our brands’ audiences to these content creators.”
Sam Toles, Vimeo’s Head of Global Content Acquisitions and Distribution added “Vimeo has always been proud to support diversity in its programming. We are delighted to further our commitment to sharing the screen with the most talented LGBT creators through this exciting collaboration”.
The first Here Media film included in the partnership comes from Billy Clift, the director behind the critically-acclaimed feature film Baby Jane?. Written and directed by Clift, the comedic thriller, Hush Up Sweet Charlotte, premiered on Vimeo Feb. 15, 2016, and is available at https://vimeo.com/ondemand/hushupsweetcharlotte. Charlotte Holler is about to lose everything, especially her mind, in this parody of the Bette Davis cult classic Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte. The film stars Mink Stole, David Millbern and Varla Jean Merman.
Out West, the second Here Media film in the partnership, centers on celebutante Prissy Alcott, who leaves her luxe Reno life behind and returns to her childhood home in Colorado after learning that her family has gone broke and is selling their ranch. She tries to reboot the family enterprise as a dude ranch with the help of her three gay friends. Directed by Lee Brownstein, Out West stars Jennifer Elyse Cox, Sean Astin, and Daniel Baldwin.
As a full service marketing and media company, Here Media will cross promote the films and other LGBT Vimeo content across all of the touch points of the iconic LGBT brands in its portfolio, believed to reach a majority of adult LGBTs. With a combined audience of 10MM+ monthly unique viewers across digital, social, print and television, Here Media has unparalleled scale in the LGBT space.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Here Media as the brand begins to enter the LGBT space,” Toles continued. “We look forward to bringing the Vimeo audience thought-provoking films and continuing our on-going partnership with Here Media that will expand beyond the premieres of Hush Up Sweet Charlotte and Out West.”
Growing up in Algeria, Shaira had almost everything a young man could wish for. But he also had a big secret.
In a land where homosexuality is still a crime and a sin, he was forced to live a secret life, hiding that he was gay from everyone — even his closest family.
The 26-year-old Shaira, who asked that his last name not be used to protect himself from attacks, went to study in France four years ago and has never gone back to Algeria. His family still has no idea of his sexuality.
Now a gay imam from Algeria is working with a local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender association to counsel and protect Shaira and other young gay Muslims who make their way to the ancient French port city of Marseille. The Le Refuge group says it has helped 26 gays find shelter and start a new life in Marseille last year. Some eventually go back to their families.
Homosexuality is a criminal offense in much of the Middle East — punishable by imprisonment or, in countries like Saudi Arabia, by death. In Algeria, homosexual acts are punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine.
Islam considers homosexuality a sin. Men having sex with each other should be punished, the Quran says, but it doesn’t say how — and it adds that they should be left alone if they repent. The death penalty verdict instead comes from the Hadith, or accounts of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. The accounts differ on the method of killing, and some accounts give lesser penalties in some circumstances.
The Islamic State group has taken this to an extreme. Videos the group has released show masked militants dangling allegedly gay men over the sides of buildings by their legs and dropping them head-first or tossing them over the edge.
It is believed that at least three dozen men in Syria and Iraq have been killed by IS over accusations of sodomy.
Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed is an imam born in Algeria who now works in Marseille and runs an association of French Muslims and gays. He has known the discrimination faced by the young people who come to Le Refuge for help.
“Personally I have received quite a lot of threats, but I saw more people come to encourage me … saying you are an embodiment of real Islam,” Zahed said.
The local head of Le Refuge in Marseille, Christophe Chausse, says the group tries to counsel young gays about how to cope with the constant conflict between their sexuality and their religion.
“For them, there is a real dilemma between — ‘I am or I feel homosexual, and I have my religion, my faith which prohibits it, so I cannot live this homosexuality,’” Chausse said.
Shaira cries as he talks about this conflict that he battles every day.
“Everybody is telling me — ‘you are gay, you are Muslim and this is not normal,’” Shaira said. “But I feel that I have the same right to have a religion as everybody else. Even if I’m gay.”
Out Leadership, a global business advisory organization, today announced the launch of OutWOMEN, an initiative that champions the success of senior LGBT women in business. Beth Brooke-Marciniak, global vice chair of public policy, EY and a member of Out Leadership’s Global Advisory Board, and Martine Rothblatt, CEO of United Therapeutics, will co-chair the inaugural OutWOMEN event in March.
OutWOMEN is an important new platform Out Leadership will build to bring together senior LGBT executives to create business opportunities and cultivate talent – and thereby drive equality forward.
“Leaders in the LGBT business space and people in the trenches, who are working to deliver on the business promise of LGBT inclusion, have long asked: ‘Where are the women?’” said Stephanie Sandberg, managing director of Advisory & Client Services, Out Leadership. “We’ve observed that LGBT women are often under-recognized and underserved in the conversation. OutWOMEN is our platform to serve this impactful network, and we couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity.”
“Being out, being senior and being seen to have succeeded nonetheless, makes a difference,” said Ms. Brooke-Marciniak. “There are precious few women role models in the upper echelons of leadership. Just five percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women, and less than one percent of FTSE 250 CEO slots are held by women. Even fewer of these women openly identify as LGBT. Building this network helps each of us to visualize the path ahead to pursue executive leadership, leverage the full strength of our authenticity, and be the role models for tomorrow’s LGBT women leaders.”
OutWOMEN organizes global engagement opportunities for LGBT women in significant leadership positions at major companies. In its first year, it will convene a series of private, invitation-only salon dinners in New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, Atlanta, Los Angeles, London, and Hong Kong. These dinners will center on engaging conversation and facilitating cross-business opportunity among a curated cohort of senior LGBT women executives. OutWOMEN will also host breakfasts at Out Leadership’s 2016 summits in New York, Hong Kong and London, which will be open to younger women and allies of the group.
“There’s a real dearth of institutional and organizational support for successful LGBT women in business. OutWOMEN addresses a clear and present need,” said Ms. Rothblatt, “The women it will serve face unique opportunities and challenges as a result of their shared identities and experiences, and I’m delighted and honored to help guide the initiative forward. It is an awesome mission.”
