Pride has always mattered. It’s a time to celebrate the vibrant diversity of the LGBTQIA+ community, honor our history of resilience, and raise awareness for the ongoing discrimination we face. Right now, this month feels more important than ever.
Today, as a regional leader for our Pride Employee Resource Group (ERG), I’m faced with the reality that many consider the LGBTQIA+ community a threat. At best, they want to invalidate and erase us. At worst, they want to deny us access to health care, essential services, and other basic human rights. They want to see us not just prevented from, but prosecuted for, living as our authentic selves.
To say that I am not okay—that we are not okay—is an understatement. That’s why Pride Month is so important. It’s not just a celebration. It’s a powerful declaration: We’re not going anywhere. We are here, we are visible, and we will continue to advocate for our rights and our place in society.
Reflecting on the power of visibility and action
Two years ago, I joined HiBob and felt comfortable (for the first time) bringing my authentic self to work. Queer, non-binary, and all.
It’s no coincidence that having a visibly open and proudly queer CMO allowed me the space to explore how I wanted to bring myself to work. Having an openly queer leader in the C-suite gave me confidence to do so while having someone to look up to as a role model.
There are very few openly queer leaders in the C-suite, and even fewer openly trans leaders. Despite the media attention we receive, LGBTQIA+ people still face immense workplace discrimination, threats to our physical and emotional wellbeing, and work environments that have long—implicitly or explicitly—encouraged us to stay closeted, stay quiet, and stay anonymous.
This year, as we celebrate Pride Month, I’m given a moment to reflect—not just on my own journey, but also on the crucial role that businesses play in shaping the future of work for people like me, and for the entire LGBTQIA+ community.
Being out and visible is a powerful statement. Not just because it loudly proclaims “I’m not going anywhere,” but because it demonstrates to others that they, too, can have a voice.
Living out loud and proud can shift someone’s perception of what’s possible for themselves, for their friends, and for their families. I’ve seen it firsthand: By showing up loud and proud, I’ve helped some colleagues rethink what it means to be fully themselves at work.
Visibility fuels storytelling, and storytelling builds bridges of understanding and acceptance. But visibility is also complex. While it can open doors, it also comes with risks that too many of us know all too well.
Visibility is a double-edged sword
It’s not just online hate we have to contend with. It’s physical safety concerns, legal challenges, and the constant reality that some people believe LGBTQIA+ people shouldn’t exist. That we’re dangerous or detrimental to society.
For too many people, visibility isn’t an asset. It’s a liability. Every day, people have to make an impossible choice: Am I willing to accept the consequences of being true to myself at work?
Before joining HiBob, I wasn’t out at work, mostly because of the professional risks. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t constantly reminded of the potential personal cost of coming out. I felt this most acutely when I was included in insensitive conversations.
Based on some of the things I’ve overheard, it’s not unreasonable to worry that transitioning or coming out at work might jeopardize our safety, let alone our careers.
Will we come out, only to be let go coincidentally in the next round of layoffs, despite years of top performance? Will we be othered—or even ostracized—by our peers? Will we ever reach leadership positions, and if we do, will our professional abilities be enough to keep us there?
And even if we do feel safe enough to make that leap, what does it mean for our future? In the age of social media, Google, and ChatGPT, you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. Just because we may be or feel safe in our current role or company doesn’t mean we are or will be in the future.
That’s why visibility alone isn’t enough—especially when that visibility is a double-edged sword. True inclusivity isn’t just about celebrating identity. It’s not about “having to accept” consequences. It’s about ensuring that LGBTQIA+ people feel safe, supported, and valued every day.
Companies have the power to make a difference. People choosing to be out and visible at work is just the beginning of the story. What matters is what we do next and how we build a world of work that enables visible folks to not just survive but thrive.
Putting people first: What real inclusion looks like
To make this dream a reality, companies must start making deliberate choices because inclusion isn’t passive. It requires deliberate, thoughtful, and sustained actions.
Now, more than ever before, HR leaders must step up to lead their organizations on this journey, because outside, the world is becoming more hostile. As social tensions increase and legal protections erode, the world of work risks becoming a mirror of the worst parts of society at large. Workplaces that fail to act risk losing not just the top talent who have powered their innovation and performance, but also the culture that has made them so successful to date.
The reality of legal and bureaucratic challenges
For trans and non-binary people around the world, legal recognition and access to basic services are becoming increasingly difficult. We’re seeing a troubling rise in anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation globally.
In the United Kingdom, a recent Supreme Court ruling found that the definition of “sex,” “man,” and “woman” in the Equality Act of 2010 refers specifically to biological sex, excluding even trans people who hold a Gender Recognition Certificate.
In simple terms, the court ruled that “woman” does not include transgender women. This has immediate implications for how trans people in the UK access services and single-sex spaces. It also deepens the structural barriers to visibility, inclusion, and safety.
Hungary banned legal gender recognition and same-sex adoption, and passed an “anti-LGBT propaganda” law in 2021 that censors LGBTQIA+ content for minors. Bulgaria followed by banning legal gender recognition in 2023, and this year, Slovakia banned LGBTQIA+ content in schools without parental consent—with discussions underway to constitutionally define gender as binary.
In the US, new legislation continues to take aim at the trans and non-binary community. Laws across multiple states target our ability (or make it outright impossible) to obtain legal documents that match our gender identities, access life-saving health care and human services, participate in sports and other communal activities, and even use the restroom.
These aren’t just administrative headaches. They’re life-altering barriers.
Travel and documentation issues
For many trans and non-binary people, travel presents a host of challenges. Between determining where it is safe to travel and accessing or updating necessary IDs, trans and non-binary folks often have to think twice about traveling for both work and personal reasons.
In the US, states like Florida, anti-trans legislation has reached a disturbing new level. We’re seeing bans on discussing gender identity or sexual orientation in classrooms through the eighth grade. We’re seeing access to gender-affirming health care stripped away. And we’re seeing laws that criminalize using bathrooms that align with your gender identity—while also banning gender-inclusive bathrooms in schools, hospitals, shelters, and jails. These aren’t fringe proposals. They’re mainstream laws with life-altering consequences. And they’re spreading fast.
Florida law also gives healthcare providers and insurers the right to deny care to trans people based on “moral,” “ethical,” or “religious” beliefs. These laws make it impossible for me to travel there safely. And with states like Texas and Indiana proposing similar bills, it’s likely the list of places I can’t safely visit will only grow.
Trans health care access is under threat, particularly in countries like Georgia, Ireland, the UK. It’s even under threat in historically progressive nations like France, Austria, and Italy. In the UK, there’s been a long-promised commitment to ban conversion therapy, but progress has stalled, and debates around trans inclusion continue, especially when it comes to youth access to care and growing public skepticism.
Canada’s federal ban on conversion therapy in 2022 was a step forward, but that progress has been uneven. Provinces like Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, and Alberta have since introduced policies restricting transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming care and protections in schools. Even Australia—often viewed as a leader in LGBTQIA+ rights—has started backsliding. In early 2025, Queensland banned puberty blockers and hormone therapy for new patients under 18.
And beyond the policies themselves, the lived reality for trans and non-binary people around the world is just as sobering. Even so-called “safer” countries can present challenges when your physical appearance does not match the gender marker on your passport. I have heard stories of people who have been strip-searched or denied entry at borders because their gender markers on their IDs don’t match how they present in person. This is more than a paperwork issue—it’s about dignity, freedom of movement, and safety.
Workplace discrimination is everywhere, including in HR tech
LGBTQIA+ people have been fighting against workplace discrimination for decades. But many of the systems we rely on, like HR and payroll platforms, still fail to recognize us.
Some integrations between HRIS and payroll platforms, for example, erase non-binary identities every payroll cycle, requiring employers to pass an employee’s legal sex to the payroll provider—who in turn overwrites the corresponding field for gender in the employer’s HRIS when passing data back. This means people’s identities are being invalidated every two weeks on payday because the systems your company uses refuse to acknowledge the difference between these two fields.
Now, new federal policies in the US are making it even harder to push back. More and more protective programs across the private sector are disappearing under pressure to align with government rollbacks. And with the EEOC no longer processing discrimination claims from LGBTQIA+ individuals, people’s legal recourse to challenge discrimination in the workplace is also disappearing. The message is clear: You’re on your own.
The bigger picture: Erasure in policy and culture
The rollback of workplace protections is just one piece of a much larger movement. This isn’t just about HR systems or inclusive HR policies: It’s about a broader effort to silence and erase LGBTQIA+ people from public life.
Anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment is growing. A 2025 Pew Research study found that fewer Americans support laws protecting trans people from discrimination, down eight points since 2022. In Europe and Central Asia, ILGA research found that anti-LGBTQIA+ speech is rising and being normalized, and that “LGBTI-phobic hate and misinformation campaigns have laid the groundwork for legislation such as anti-propaganda and foreign agent laws.”
DE&I programs are under attack. A recent Economist/YouGov poll found that 45 percent of respondents support ending DE&I programs in schools and government, compared to 40 percent opposed. Just last year, a survey by the Washington Post showed that 61 percent of Americans thought DE&I programs “were a good thing.”
Despite the trends, history shows that setbacks don’t erase people’s resilience. Businesses have a responsibility to push forward, even when policies lag behind.
What this means for LGBTQIA+ professionals
The fight against LGBTQIA+ inclusion isn’t just political, and it’s not just about policies. It’s about real people’s lives.
LGBTQIA+ people are being forced to carry an impossible weight: trying to stay focused at work while navigating escalating threats to our rights, safety, and livelihoods. And we’re not the only ones affected.
When your very existence is debated, denied, and erased by laws and workplace systems, it creates a constant state of fear, stress, and exhaustion—not just for LGBTQIA+ people, but for everyone who believes in equality and a free society.
So, what can be done?
The time to act is now: What businesses, led by HR, can do
Progress endures when we refuse to let it be undone.
As HR leaders, you have the power to push your organizations forward. You can make a difference and champion safer, more inclusive workplaces that protect people, even when governments fail to do so. The time to act isn’t tomorrow or next quarter. It’s today.
The policies you implement now will determine whether your workplace is a refuge for marginalized employees or not. You can step up by establishing clear company guidelines that everyone can access in your employee handbook that definitively outline anti-discrimination policies, inclusive benefits, and workplace protections for LGBTQIA+ team members.
Here’s where you can start.
1. Bolster workplace protections
- Ensure company policies explicitly protect LGBTQIA+ team members, even where legal protections fall short
- Include anti-discrimination policies with dedicated sections on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression
- Provide bias training, including anti-LGBTQIA+ bias education, for managers and employees
- Offer specialized guidance on workplace transition for trans and non-binary team members, including clear policies on name and pronoun changes, restroom access, and manager training
2. Offer inclusive benefits
- Cover transition-related health care, including hormone therapy and gender-affirming procedures
- Ensure fertility benefits are inclusive of LGBTQIA+ employees, covering treatments like IVF, egg and sperm freezing, and reproductive assistance
- Offer parental leave that supports all paths to parenthood, including adoptive parents, parents using surrogacy, and birthing parents
3. Maintain inclusive workplace policies
- Provide access to gender-neutral bathrooms across all office locations
- Implement an easy, self-service process for employees to update their names and pronouns in company systems
- Require inclusive hiring and promotion practices that address and combat bias in recruitment, evaluation, and advancement
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4. Provide human-centered support
- Recognize that people are struggling. They’re showing up to work, but many are not okay.
- Equip managers to lead with empathy. They don’t need to have all the answers, but they do need to be human.
- Offer mental health support and Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs).
- Support a well-resourced Employee Resource Group (ERG) for LGBTQIA+ team members.
- Be proactive. Remind your people where they can find resources instead of waiting for them to ask.
- Survey your workforce to identify missing resources and benefits, then actively work to fill those gaps.
Policy changes and benefits are just two steps in the right direction. Culture is also critical. The way businesses show up—every day, in every meeting, in every decision—makes the difference in whether a workplace becomes a true safe haven or just another place where LGBTQIA+ people feel like we have to hide.
That’s why LGBTQIA+ professionals need more than words. We need workplaces that actively defend, uplift, and protect us.
See us. Support us. Stand with us.
Recognition is powerful, but it doesn’t shield us from harm. For many LGBTQIA+ people, visibility is risky and dangerous. It can cost us our livelihoods, our safety, and in some cases, our lives.
Pride Month is about celebrating those of us who are here and here to stay. But survival isn’t enough. We deserve to thrive like everyone else. And thriving requires more than acknowledgement. It demands real, lasting change.
Because what’s happening in the LGBTQIA+ community right now is bigger than us. A culture of fear is being created, and it’s one that affects everyone. When a society starts erasing identities, restricting rights, and rolling back protections, it sets a precedent that threatens us all.
This Pride Month, let’s celebrate our strength, our stories, and our beautiful diversity. Let’s remember the resilience that has brought us this far and the hope that fuels our fight for a better future.
Because this isn’t just about LGBTQIA+ people. This is about defending the fundamental right to exist freely and without fear for everyone.
HR leaders, business owners, and allies everywhere, you have a choice: Watch this happen or take action.
Because inclusion isn’t a statement. It’s a practice. The moment to lead is here. Step up. Speak out. Make inclusion a reality—today and every day.
