AIBU to be a little bit hurt by this? (LGBT related)

[GalacticBuscuit]

Hi all,

Ive been thinking about a discussion/meeting I was involved in and wonder if I’m being unreasonable in being a bit hurt/miffed by something.

Firstly, I am a lesbian. I am not really out to anyone other than a few very close friends as I grew up in quite a homophobic environment and I don’t feel I will ever be comfortable being openly out.

I work for a large corporation that trades globally, but which is a British business and is headquartered here.

In a meeting yesterday we were discussing some changes that need to be made to one of our products. One of the changes proposed was that we need to remove any references to LGBT people, as it’s hurting our growth in the Middle East. No one battered an eyelid at this, and it was passed through, in fact one person mentioned that doing this would be good for our global DEI targets as it would be a positive move toward better cultural sensitivity.

I said nothing, but I couldn’t help but feel a little bit hurt by this.

I know I am being unreasonable to compare or play what aboutry, but a little voice in my head whispered, well imagine if there was a region of the world that had a lot of countries with apartheid and segregation, so we need to remove any references to POC from our products. Or imagine a region of the world where they had a strong belief in eugenics, so we needed to remove any positive references to people with disabilities from our products for that region.

Both would be very very rightly shot down. So why do non-heterosexuals always seem to be the expandable minority?

I know it isn’t a competition between minorities, I was just trying to illustrate my thinking.

I’m not going to say anything, I just feel a bit hurt.

For reference, I do mean that it’s being removed from our actual product, not just the marketing or whatever. I don’t want to give away the industry incase it’s outing, but for something similar (but a different sector) imagine a history textbook contained information on key historical figures, but we’ve now decided that two of them are being cut because they were openly gay/lesbian/bi and the market in certain parts of the world doesn’t want material that represents these people in a positive light…

sorry for the rant. It has helped just getting this off my chest.

Are you able to voice your concerns? Surely there must be other LGB people who work there. I mean you don't have to be LGB to think it sounds dodgy!

If they need to change the product for the ME market why not just bring out a specific version of it for that but keep it the same for everywhere else?

If it is to do with education then I understand that in certain countries they just won't cover those subjects and also some stuff with women's rights. While I disagree with that obviously, I guess if they want to sell there they might need to make changes. But not to the whole global product offering?

You are not being unreasonable.

Unfortunately we are in an era where Trump massively changed the dial on everything progressive and lots of recent historic achievements have been quietly set aside by those who have been waiting for the moment to ditch the 'rainbow stuff'.

So yeah, I think a lot of progress will be quietly buried by those who want to use today's 2025 environment to say "our customers won't like this".

Yanbu to feel hurt by this. Yabu if you’re surprised by it - money talks and companies will say whatever they think customers want to hear; they aren’t generally known for their sincerity.

What does someone's sexuality have to do with a large corporation that trades globally? I don't see the connection. I don't care what anyone's sexual preferences are aslong as the job gets done. However if you feel like any negativity was aimed towards you then of course go to HR.

Spoken like a true heterosexual.

Yanbu to be upset.
Lgbtq has been very heavily acknowledged for the month of June and throughout the year in schools, Doctor surgeries. Shopping centres, sadly when something is over done and parents are concerned with the focus heavily in school it can become the focus of annoyance.
Love is love. People should be able to live a life with peace. Sexual preferences shouldn't need to be made a part of everyday life.

And your point?

Jesus, that's awful. Of course you're upset. I'm so sorry.

YABU to think your employer is interested in anything other than maximizing profit. DEI/LGBT policies are like other company policies - there to minimize cost and maximize profit.

YANBU to quit and go and work for an employer more aligned to your views, but be aware there are very few businesses who pay anything other than lip service to LGBT rights.

@BobbyBiscuits The acronym includes a T, you don't get to speak for all LGBT people and remove it just because of your beliefs.

You have a whole board dedicated to your views and you don't need to make this person's very valid issue about trans people.

When a Principle comes up against Profit the Principle suffers, far too often.

It's crap.

I thought we were against cultural imperialism now?

this would be good for our global DEI targets as it would be a positive move toward better cultural sensitivity.

If that is the case then your company's DEI targets are a pile of easily manipulated shite. That would be throwing one group of vulnerable people under the bus to satisfy a different DEI target, while all the dominant groups remain smugly unaffected.

In fact they should not win any points for "cultural sensitivity" because "cultural sensitivity" is not supposed to mean "you can only offend a dominant cultural group inside our own borders". Though I wouldn't be surprised if some de-colonialist types will tell you it does mean exactly that.

And I don't think it has anything to do with Trump nor with pride month FFS. If it's wrong it's wrong every bloody month.

I bet your company has done a 'happy pride month' etc on its western socials.

Load of hypocrisy they should be ashamed of themselves, why is a British company bowing to backwards middle Eastern nutters.

Do you mean a pride flag or some other pink washing markings. I’m not gay, my daughter is Bi though abd was in a relationship with a woman for over a year so hopefully I’m not homophobic at least I like to think I’m not.

I genuinely think corporate pink washing has done more harm than good for the LGBTQ movement than any good. It is meaningless, tokenistic piffle. The culture should support LGBTQ not the branding.

For the record a brand of tea where I am from had minstrels on them for years and were advertised with some in hindsight horribly racist mistral dancing ads. That has not aged well at all.

Crikey mate I wasn't deliberately removing the T?! I have trans family and am not talking about that anyway?

And you don't get to speak for all people in the community either.

Some of us remove the T as we don't believe that someone's misguided belief that they are born in the wrong body is relevant to sexuality.

LGB are the same. The T belongs on its own. Somewhere else.

You can use the acronym you choose, as can those of us that choose to remove the T.

I thought it's always been industry standard for multinationals to be sensitive to regional markets?

The acronym includes a T, you don't get to speak for all LGBT people and remove it just because of your beliefs.

You don't get to dictate how others use the acronym though.

But not to claim that they're winning global DEI brownie points in the process. That's arseholery.

This is what annoys me with the corporate world. The pride month virtue signalling piece is quietly deleted when the same people market to the Middle East and China. Shameless. Reminds me of when our Prime Minister took his poppy off to visit Muslim community leaders before reappearing in time for his next engagement.

Businesses are there to make money … they fly a rainbow flag when it suits their purpose. They aren’t charities, or social enterprises.

It’s Capitalism.. in all its horrible glory.

But not to claim that they're winning global DEI brownie points in the process. That's arseholery.

That's fair.
I've always been a bit cynical of virtue-signalling by large corporations though, and their motivations, so I don't feel very surprised at that.

This absolutely. Don’t ever think your employer is going to put your feelings before making a profit

Well I'm not heterosexual and I absolutely agree with her.

I'm sick to death of companies who paint their logos in rainbows during pride month in the west, whilst their logos in the middle east remain unchanged. It's virtue signalling bollocks and I think companies should just stick to selling whatever they're selling and providing good service.