DTCB Embraces LGBTQI Persons In The Workplace

By Chedza Mmolawa

In 1969 disgruntled members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, & Intersex Life (LGBTQI+) community in New York City, America, marched into Stonewall Hotel and protested for Gay Rights. Their demonstration was cut short by hostile retaliation from the police, and as a result people were hurt that day. But their efforts and the protest were not in vain. Since that day, June, is considered Pride Month, when the world's LGBTQI+ communities come together and celebrate the freedom to be themselves and remember the Stonewall uprising of 1969 that helped spark the modern gay rights movement.

What happened in New York City 53 years ago is now celebrated in Botswana, after the country itself battled with gaining rights for the LGBTQI+ community in the country. And even though the progression of acceptance is slow, it is happening, and Diamond

Trading Company Botswana (DTCB) has taken a lead in the inclusion and diversity of its LGBTQI+ employees in the workplace.

June has become a global symbol of gay PRIDE month, and DTCB kickstarted the celebrations of the month by hosting an in-house educational seminar for its staff to educate them about creating safe and comfortable spaces for colleagues who are members of the LGBTQI+ community.

Last year, DTCB started an initiative dubbed 'The Real You' network that seeks to educate its employees on the

importance of inclusion of ALL in the workplace.

PRIDE MONTH AT DTCB Speaking during the commemoration seminar of PRIDE month this June, Senior Manager Technical Services, DTCB, Prudence Mabua, said their employees are the background of their history. And by that they would like each individual to get a comfortable position of being able to be operating in their authentic self at work every day without fear of being judged. "We pride ourselves on being an inclusive employer, not only through our work, but also our actions. Last year in June, we launched our 'The Real You' network, which aims to create a safe, inclusive, supportive and welcoming environment for LGBTQI+ colleagues. This will allow them to be their true selves at work and reach their full potential. We are still committed to this purpose, and hence every year, we gather to celebrate PRIDE. Today I wish to call upon all of you to reflect on the challenges that the LGBTQI+ community goes through and think about what we can do to make the world a safe place for all of us," she passionately emphasised.

As a way of showing a commitment to this journey, DTCB has partnered with NGOs in the LGBTQI+ community to drive this mission outside the workplace and contribute to the issues of the LGBTQI+ in Botswana.

The Real You program could not have been the impactful success it is proving to be had it not been for the efforts made by the program spokesperson Tumisang Mothowamodimo, who is an employee DTCB and a proud member of the LGBTQI+ community. She unpacked the efforts made by DTCB on the subject of diversity and inclusion and educated her colleagues and everyone in attendance about the struggles and fears her community faces every day.

ABOUT THE REAL YOU TM: The Real You is a network of employees that creates safe spaces for LGBTQI+ persons. When we talk about safe spaces, we talk about places that you go to and feel comfortable. At DTCB, the task is to make sure that DTCB as a workplace is safe for someone who belongs to the LGBTQI+ community without feeling scared of being themselves or expressing themselves. The conversation of The Real You and the inclusion of LGBTQI+ persons comes from Inclusion and Diversity in the workplace. As DTCB and Debeers group, we are saying diversity is about the differences that we have, how we are different as people, as a community and inclusion speaks to how we embrace differences we have.

Inclusion is about saying how we get you as an individual or someone different, a seat at the table. Just the same way we come to work with different cultural backgrounds and end up getting along, we should be able to do the same with the LGBTQI+ community. So this is about coming from different backgrounds but respecting each other, making each other feel as if they belong in the workplace, and making sure there is no abuse or discrimination against the LGBTQI+ in the workplace.

THE IMPORTANCE OF PRIDE MONTH TO HER TM: The PRIDE acronym stands for Promoting Respect, Inclusion, and Dignity for Everyone. And DTCB is extending this respect, inclusion, and dignity to the LGTBQI community. People often ask why we have to talk about issues affecting LGTBQI+ persons in the workplace, and feel that LGBTQI+ issues are personal issues that should be discussed outside the workplace. The reality is the LGBTQI+ community are not free as heterozygous people are in the workplace. Hetrozetrium people openly and freely talk about their wives and husbands or partners at work, while those in the LGBTQI+ community are judged and shunned for openly talking about their partners to colleagues. A lesbian or gay person should have the same privilege to talk about their partners in the workplace without fear or prejudice.

THE MARGINALISATION OF THE LGBTQI+ PERSONS IN THE WORKPLACE TM: The difference is when we all walk into a place of employment, a heterosexual person gets to have their medical plan cover the person they share their lives with. Whereas a lesbian or gay man will not have the same equal opportunity, so at the end of the day we do not have the same privileges. Members of the LGBTQI+ community do not have the same privileges such as maternity/paternity leave, partners covered by insurance. And this is why it is important to have conversations about issues affecting the LGBTQI+ community in the workplace. It is so bad that some people in the workplace are in the closet for being allies of the LGBTQI+ community.

Societal pressure on people in the LGBTQI community is also thriving in the workplace, where we also get a lot of invalidation from colleagues who label us based on the way we look. Some people marry men or women because their colleagues say they don't look "gay."

And sadly, people in the LGBTQI community fall prey or victim to violence and assault, such as correctional rape, where colleagues or people outside the workplace believe that if a queer person is raped, it "cures" their gayness.

THE EMOTIONAL IMPACT OF UNACCEPTANCE OF THE LGBTQI+ IN THE WORKPLACE TM: As a lesbian, if I walk into the office and hear conversations about the hate of queer people, how is that a safe space for me? If you come to work and declare your hate and disapproval of the LGBTQI+ community, how is that safe space for me? Another aspect of acknowledging LGBTQI+ in the workplace is that we create safe spaces for people in the LGTBQI+ community to be able to report cases of abuse in the workplace. If our emotions and safety are not validated, we are going to be victims of abuse and have nowhere to report it.

DTCB AND ITS INCLUSION OF THE LGBTQI+ PERSONS IN THE WORKPLACE TM: I am proud to be in an organisation that recognises that there are more than just heterosexual relationships. My biggest fear about coming out was the thought of not getting a job because of who I am. To be in an organisation like this gives hope, to be included and be given a seat at the table, and to be given a platform to do this work. LGBTQI+ inclusion is a human right it's about saying you are valid and you deserve to have what you have.

The Real You project can run because of the management and leadership that advocate for it. Our voices are amplified when we have someone in leadership positions owning these functions and policies. There is still a lot to be done and I am confident now that changes will come. There is still a need to formulate anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies, we have to create equal opportunities and nondiscrimination policies for everyone, making DTCB and other organisations a safe space for everyone.