Basically, I think my advice is to find community, but find it outside your workplace. There are a lot of great organizations in the tech community (like Code Newbie or Virtual Coffee) that offer support and community.
In general, I've found it's much easier to be open about my identity and my family in this industry than in finance or public education, where I came from, but that's not at all the same as saying we're doing a good job. I also have the privilege of "passing" very easily - my queer family looks very hetero-normative - and that means I've always had the choice of whether to be open about it. I thus don't feel all that comfortable speaking for LGBTQ folks as a whole.
Still, I do think there are more opportunities to find support for queer folks in tech than you might expect, especially if you reach outside your workplace. And, as this article alludes to, relying on a company-sanctioned, company-supported group has some serious potential drawbacks.
Thanks for sending a link to the article and for replying! I worked for a large aerospace company in Iowa, and there were ERGs for different communities including one for LGBTQ folks. I'm always curious about people's experiences in the workplace, so I'm glad you elaborated on this!
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Whoops, I thought I had replied to this before!
This is a link to the article about Employee Resource Groups that I mentioned during the panel: protocol.com/workplace/employee-re...
Basically, I think my advice is to find community, but find it outside your workplace. There are a lot of great organizations in the tech community (like Code Newbie or Virtual Coffee) that offer support and community.
In general, I've found it's much easier to be open about my identity and my family in this industry than in finance or public education, where I came from, but that's not at all the same as saying we're doing a good job. I also have the privilege of "passing" very easily - my queer family looks very hetero-normative - and that means I've always had the choice of whether to be open about it. I thus don't feel all that comfortable speaking for LGBTQ folks as a whole.
Still, I do think there are more opportunities to find support for queer folks in tech than you might expect, especially if you reach outside your workplace. And, as this article alludes to, relying on a company-sanctioned, company-supported group has some serious potential drawbacks.
Thanks for sending a link to the article and for replying! I worked for a large aerospace company in Iowa, and there were ERGs for different communities including one for LGBTQ folks. I'm always curious about people's experiences in the workplace, so I'm glad you elaborated on this!