Intersections at work

12 Racism and/or Homophobia . When Homophobia is More of an Issue. For some culturally diverse LGBTQ respondents homophobia was more of an issue for them than racism – homophobia more than their cultural identity had an impact on their workplace experiences. Concerningly, a number of respondents indicated that they experienced homophobia or heterosexism, or weren’t comfortable being open about their sexuality, in organisations that worked in the cultural diversity space: One respondent indicated that it was the expectations of other culturally diverse people at work that meant it was difficult for her to be open at work: Culturally specific agency I worked in refused to grow their LGBTIQ knowledge, post anything on their website, subjected me to homophobic professional bullying both direct and indirect. – FemaLe LesBian, gReeK-austRaLian CuLtuRaL iDentitY . My office is very culturally diverse, but not with Anglo people: I don’t feel comfortable by sharing my condition as a gay male. – gaY maLe CoLomBian CuLtuRaL iDentitY . As a culturally diverse LGBTIQ employee I still find it very hard to be ‘open’ at work as I have had very conservative culturally diverse senior managers and work colleagues who are not openly supportive of LGBTIQ staff. – LesBian FemaLe, tRanswoman, inDian/angLo-inDian CuLtuRaL iDentitY . When Racism is More of an Issue. Several culturally diverse LGBTQ workers indicated that racism was a far more prominent issue for them than their gender identity or sexual orientation at work: Being from a non-Anglo-Saxon background and having English as a second language has had a huge negative impact on my career. I don’t believe being gay has ever been an issue. – gaY maLe, BRaziLian-itaLian CuLtuRaL iDentitY . Even if racism wasn’t overt, some workplaces had not embraced cultural diversity in the same way they had other D&I areas: Racism in LGBTQ spaces or organisations that did not meet the cultural needs of respondents could be a source of stress and anxiety for those who felt they had to leave part of that identity aside: My firm has not had an issue with sexual orientation of its employees but celebrating cultural diversity has been slow. – LesBian FemaLe, CHinese asian neC, CuLtuRaL iDentitY . I work in an organization which is an LGBTI health organization. However, they do not understand my cultural needs. These are often completely ignored. I identify as a Muslim woman, so there are often comments that are very anti-religious. This means I often feel I have to leave my religious part of myself out of work and it cause me great anxiety. What I love about my work is that I am a visibly Muslim woman working in a queer space, as part of my work I also go to queer social venues- there people who aren’t visibly Muslim can see me and they often come up and hug me and talk to me about their experiences and that they are happy to see me in queer spaces. – QueeR, non-BinaRY/genDeR FLuiD, aRaB CuLtuRaL iDentitY .