Flying the flag for life sciences' LGBT+ community

EPM editor Reece Armstrong flies the flag for the LGBT+ community working within life sciences. 

The recent news that Alan Turing will be the next face of the £50 note should be a welcome boon to members of the LGBT+ community.

At the time of writing, Pride Month has ended and companies around the world have put their rainbow coloured branding back into the proverbial closet.

It’s easy to be cynical and dismiss companies’ efforts towards LGBT+ inclusivity as money-making PR stunts, but in the pharma industry at least progress is being made.

In the UK, GSK’s efforts into improving workplace culture and life for LGBT+ employees have been recognised by Stonewall’s Global Workplace Equality Index. The company’s policies, which protect workers from discrimination on the grounds of their sexual orientation and gender identity, align well with the words of Brian McNamara, CEO, GSK Consumer Healthcare.

“Innovation in healthcare happens when groups of people who are different join together with a common aim. Supporting LGBT+ inclusion is just one of the ways that organisations can celebrate difference and spark innovation.”

Other pharma companies too are promoting a healthy culture for the LGBT+ community.

Johnson & Johnson for instance has been named as one of the best pharmaceutical companies to work for and in 2018 was championed for its LGBT policies.

Not only does J&J offer same-sex parents the same benefits as heterosexuals, it provides transgender health insurance coverage and offers same-sex spouses assistance with fertility treatments, adoption and surrogacy. Besides this, the company has also donated over $1 million to LGBT+ charities.

And yes, for a business that makes billions in profit every year this may seem like a paltry amount. Yet without financial donations, supportive policies and inclusive workplace atmospheres – things that actually make a difference – then companies will continue to simply fly the flag every year without supporting any LGBT+ efforts. 

But why is this important?

A report released in June by the Institute of Physics, Royal Astronomical Society and Royal Society of Chemistry highlighted that 28% of LGBT+ scientists have considered leaving their job because of discrimination.

More so, the survey of over 1,000 employees working in physical sciences, demonstrated that almost half (49%) believe there is an overall lack of awareness of LGBT+ issues in the workplace.    

In engineering diversity is even more limited. A survey of almost 7,000 engineers in the UK shows that only 4% of these are LGBT, with another 5% preferring not to declare their sexual orientation.

While this doesn’t necessarily correlate to a culture of exclusion, it certainly doesn’t help the argument that engineering is dominated by straight white men.

So just remember the next time you see Turing’s face on the front of a £50 note, that science is at its best when people of all sexual orientations, genders and identities work together, and that nobody should be excluded from any industry based on who they are.