Stories

Looking back at my younger self, I realise it took a me long time to come to terms with being gay. I was terrified of being a 'disappointment'. While I have privilege in many areas, I don't come from a traditional City law background and my sexual orientation was a big reason why I worried I'd never be accepted in the sector. How wrong you can be. A career in pensions law has been a complete gift in that sense: across the industry, no matter what the work is and who I'm working with, my experience is that pensions people are pretty universally unstuffy, intellectually curious and welcoming. There's a genuine sense of togetherness and enjoyment in the (often very challenging) work. Working in pensions fits my skillset and has enabled me to build a distinctive and authentic presence as a professional, supported by genuine allies, peers and friends.

It would be wrong to pretend that everything is brilliant. A well-known Human Rights Campaign study shows us that up to 62% of openly LGBTQ+ graduates go back into the closet when they start their careers. It shouldn't be that way. We need to engage more fully and effectively with the issues that arise for LGBTQ+ people at the intersections of different kinds of discrimination. And research by Aon and others has revealed a continuing lack of diversity within some key areas of the pensions industry itself. As I have progressed in my career, it's become more and more incumbent on me, as a leader and manager, to help create the diverse and inclusive environment that so important to all of us.

So, I'm really proud to be part of O:pen, working with outstanding professionals from all areas of the industry to help us all connect better, share ideas and make progress through this exciting initiative. Travers Smith has put diversity and inclusiveness at the heart of its journey as a business, and our commitment to O:pen is an important part of that. I hope to see you at one of our events soon!

Whilst I knew I was gay from a relatively young age, it took me a while to say that to anyone else. I, like many others, was bullied in school and I have very few fond memories of my school years. It wasn’t until I went to university that I felt I could truly be myself and I made some amazing friends who accepted me as I am and gave me the courage to come out to my family. I had very mixed reactions within my family, with half of it being from a strict Catholic upbringing. In hindsight it perhaps set me back slightly in being open with new people, but I don’t regret doing it.

Not long after when I started my career, I was one of the scarily high percentage of openly LGBTQ+ graduates who went back into the closet. Fortunately, this was short lived as I found the actuarial consulting environment very open and welcoming. This has been true of all the firms I have worked for thankfully, and they have all tended to be diverse workplaces generally.

The next hurdle was not hiding who I am from my clients, who are often from older generations with numerous privileges. Aside from one bad experience relatively early in my career, I have been pleasantly surprised with how accepting and almost nonchalant they have been! It was very refreshing.

Some areas of the pensions industry do have a lack of diversity, but this is changing all the time. The Pensions Regulator is promoting diversity, firms are increasingly explicitly supporting LGBTQ+ rights and diversity and my clients are starting to actively think about inclusion and diversity and how to imbed it their roles. My experiences in the industry give me hope that whilst it appears lacking in diversity on the surface, there is a willingness and appetite to be inclusive which is a step in the right direction.

As such, I am really proud to be part of O:pen, helping to increase awareness, providing a safe space and driving LGBTQ+ inclusion within the wider pensions industry. Willis Towers Watson is committed to inclusion and diversity and supporting O:pen is an important part of that. I look forward to meeting some new faces at our events and would be happy to speak to anyone who would like to know more.

Amongst the gripping emotional drama of “It’s A Sin” by Russell T. Davies was a stark reminder of how different attitudes were to the LGBT+ community just a few short decades ago.

I started work with BW in 1991, just after the period that IAS was set, and I remember first attending the annual Pride in London event with a colleague in the early 1990s. I enjoyed the camaraderie, but remember attendees having to face a fair amount of hostility from homophobic “protestors” who probably outnumbered the allies who had come along to support the celebration.

It seemed at the time that it was unusual for any members of the LGBT+ community to be open in a professional office work environment. Allies would perhaps have been hard to identity and, again, may have been outnumbered by those who dispensed casual homophobia, sometimes being intentionally offensive although more often making inappropriate attempts at humour.

fast forward 30 years, and my most recent experience with a larger group of BW colleagues at Pride in London 2019 was so much more fun in comparison. The actual parade has grown so much that attendance is of course now restricted to pre-registered attendees (not like when we just rocked up on Clapham Common 15 minutes beforehand and joined in!). But the crowds of allies supporting the event have also grown enormously, and now greatly overshadow the very few sad remaining pockets of “protest”, contributing to a much more inclusive and celebratory atmosphere.

I am conscious that this progress is the result of a lot of unselfish effort by many people.

In the professional workplace too, there have been great strides forward. LGBTQ+-phobia is kept much more in check – although it is not yet eliminated I think it is much more likely to be called out. But the number of members of the LGBTQ+ community starting their careers who are still nervous about the reception they will receive in the workplace, and therefore choosing not to bring their full selves to work as a result, is still worrying. I think perhaps the allies remain too hard to identify, as there are still too many people who are perhaps not sufficiently openly welcoming of their LGBTQ+ colleagues (even if they are not openly unwelcoming either).

Becoming a good ally does take some effort. Being truly inclusive requires a little bit of education to understand some of the pressures and prejudices that the LGBTQ+ community have faced historically, and continue to have to address today. It also requires some mindfulness of the mis-steps that over-eager allies can make – such as becoming overly curious or intrusive.

I am confident that the situation will continue to improve. I am encouraged by the younger generation’s conviction that they will be better (and I believe them). I do hope that it won’t occur to future LGBTQ+ professionals to do anything other than bring their full selves to work. It has to be our ambition to provide the working environment in which this happens naturally as soon as we can. Key to this will be everyone else treating their allyship as a constant work in progress, and providing more visible support going forward.