More than 300 LGBT+ business leaders gathered in November 2018 in Hong Kong for Out Leadership’s 6th annual Asia LGBT+ Senior Leader Summit, sponsored by EY, KPMG, HSBC, and Thomson Reuters.
HSBC hosted the Closing Plenary.
Jennifer Lu, Marriage Equality Campaigner, interviewed by Peter Reading, Legal Counsel, EOC spoke about the role of corporate leadership in the drive for LBGT+ equality:
“It’s powerful for any corporate leader to stand up and say, “We support all employees and we want to support every kind of family in the corporation.We’ve seen this in other countries, but in Taiwan, the LGBT+ movement is mostly from grassroots and civil society. We have already invited some multinational corporations to sign a statement supporting marriage equality, but we use very subtle terminology because for some corporations referendums are still too political.
I still feel that corporate support is extremely important, because I can only imagine working in a company 8 to 10 hours a day 5 to 6 days a week, where I cannot express who I am, express who I love, bring my partner to the company. This is still a huge issue in Taiwan. We conducted a survey and found that over 50% of LGBT+ Taiwanese people have tried to come out to their parents and family members, but only 30% of them want to come out in their workplace. So, the number shows that the workplace is still not safe enough for LGBT+ coworker to come out. And I feel a little bit sad but also see the opportunity for progress in Taiwan.”