Ask HN: What is the most LGBT friendly company you know of, preferably hiring? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What is the most LGBT friendly company you know of, preferably hiring?

In my company we have plenty of LGBT employees and nobody seems to care. They are people like everyone else. I think that's as friendly as it can get. I bet there are lots of companies like that.

I think OP is looking for something above the baseline of "nobody seems to care".

Why? Isn’t that where we really ought to be? I don’t see why a company should be more or less “friendly” to anyone based on their gender or sexual orientation.

Companies ideally will support LGBT inclusive events, charities, etc.

What does that mean?

What word or phrase are you having trouble with?

What is an LGBT inclusive event?

As opposed to my last job, where they blocked me at the door and showed me a picture of Tony Kornheiser declaring "GAYS NOT WELCOME", when I just wanted a free bubble tea.

Yeah, it absolutely is. But discrimination can be difficult to see unless you're one of the people being discriminated against. I think we should let this thread be a place for LGBT people to share their experiences rather than filling it with discussion about whether these experiences are valid or not.

>rather than filling it with discussion about whether these experiences are valid or not

I don't follow. Nobody in this entire post is questioning whether any experience is valid.

The only real question is if an "LGBT friendly" company is nondiscrimatory (for which "Nobody cares" is the gold standard, as long as it's true), or if it has to do more than that (whatever that is)

I'm not questioning that some people and places are not at the point where things like that matter. I'm just saying "friendly" isn't really the right term to capture that. We don't say that companies are "minority friendly," do we?

There's a difference between non-discriminatory and friendly.

Non-descriminatory is the bare minimum to meet the requirements. It's being not explicitly homophobic, biphobic, or transphobic. It means you won't prevent my career growth because I'm LGBT.

LGBT Friendly means I feel just as comfortable talking about my same-sex partners as you would about your girlfriend.

One is "putting up" with it because you legally have to; the other is going the extra mile (or even inch) to help everyone feel welcome in a world that is not always so welcome.

What you are describing as friendly is to me non-discriminatory. That means making no difference between people.

In you example, minimum is normal and enough. Equal opportunity is just that. I'm sorry if you have been discriminated against, but you can't ask more more friendly without discriminating someone there group.

Some companies in SF go way overboard. Way too much "celebrating" LGBT. Even the LGBT people I know, many say people care too much who their partner is.

Women have been descriminated against, in far larger numbers, and don't have anywhere near the level of "celebration".

Asians, blacks, hispanics, etc.

Why does having a sex partner in the 10% minority or having gender dysphoria make people feel they need to "celebrate" them?

I think it could include something like Ultimate Software's health coverage (from a post elsewhere in the thread) for IVF (3 rounds) ... [and] parental leave for adoption. Although I guess those are not LGBTQ-exclusive.

So why didn't OP word the question something along the lines of....What company will hire me and treat me like i'm special because who i'm sexually attracted to then?

Because at my current work and every other job i've ever had there was no reason for anyone to care because no work i've ever done has involved sex....

Whatever happened to just going to work and worrying about what job you're supposed to be doing?

why not mention the company?

I'd venture it's because of the comment's intention not actually being in the spirit of helpfully answering the question.

Hong Kong and Japan has a directory too. The best way is to have LGBTQ colleagues say you are. Voices from trans, women, people of colour, and folks with disabilities will count for more.

Show actively that you have policies such as gender neutral washrooms or benefits for same sex partners.

And if you have no lgbtq colleagues and are a really open company, It should reflect in your language. The really inclusive companies are obvious to those who are looking, such as what terminology you use, how your recruitment team phrases hiring copy, what Twitter accounts share.

Mozilla had a great LGBT culture when I worked there. I suspect it is still very much the same.

With the glaring exception of their short lived CEO...

Was there any evidence that Eich did anything in his roll as CEO to change Mozilla's generally pro-LGBTQ ethos?

I don't, at all, agree with the man, but having a different opinion in a workspace does not mean the workspace is not inviting.

To the contrary one LGBT person I knew felt that Brendan supported her (in a conflict that involved her identity) when her own management did not (this was before he was CEO). I never heard any and anecdotes otherwise, and while I'm not particularly well connected I did ask some of the people who were outspoken against him.

At the last Mozilla company meeting, at the all-company plenary, we had an employee reintroduce herself under her new identity. It seemed kind of normal, which struck me, as it wasn't that long ago that something like that in an entirely professional setting would have been... well, not normal. It's easy to only pay attention to bad changes and not realize how quickly good changes are happening.

I believe there are some LGBTQ social groups as well.

If it's a large company, the HRC corporate ratings should list how LGBT-friendly it is:

https://www.hrc.org/campaigns/corporate-equality-index

Good luck in your job search.

Be advised, sometimes mileage varies with the larger corporations despite HRC ratings. Even if the overall company has policies against discriminatory behavior it can occur anyways at the department level. CVS recently had an incident where a pharmacist engaged in anti-transgender behavior like breaking HIPPA and refusing to fill prescriptions. Eventually they responded to it because of media attention, but a lot of this stuff happens under the table.

I work at Sonos. Having been at the company for several years, I would say we are LGBTQ friendly AND I'm hiring in Boston (I'm the actual hiring manager, not a recruiter).

Dev Manager - https://careers.sonos.com/jobs/JobDetail/Manager-Software-De...

Sr. Software Engineer - https://careers.sonos.com/jobs/JobDetail/Senior-Software-Eng...

Thanks, the person in question resides in CA, my profile of course says I'm in Boston. Either way, I really appreciate your answer.

PagerDuty. We're hiring. https://twitter.com/pagerduty/status/1003775472034045952

Thank you

How can I show you that we are 100% LGBT friendly, even if we don't have any LGBT employee yet?

How would you know you don't have a LGBT employee..!?

the commenter's bio indicates that they're currently starting a business; they probably know their employees pretty well if they even have any.

I don't know about that. If a person doesn't want to say so, it's almost impossible to determine if a person is LGB or T. Especially people you are extremely close to. We tend to be blind about that sort of thing.

We're 3 co-founders and 3 employees, and we know each other really well - that's the only reason why I know we don't have any LGBT employees yet.

I really appreciate that an honest answer to this question gets instantly hammered with -4 points and dropping.

Guess what? This space isn't friendly either, and it itself will erase all evidence of that.

Just like most companies.

I expect that users perceived and reacted to antagonism in “Take a seat, cis.” It's a convention on this site to avoid such personal jabs and instead stick to the topic at hand.

I am someone who flagged your post.

I promise, it had nothing to do with your content, and it had nothing to do with this space not being friendly to those who are LGBT - I am one of those four letters, myself.

It had to do with the dismissal and disrespect you showed someone whose tone and message showed nothing but wishing to reach out, connect, learn and accept.

In addition to what others have said: your comment broke the site guidelines that ask you to "Assume good faith" and "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Start by hiring them! Then, when they bring up things that need to be fixed, Listen To Them

Sounds like an answer in search of a problem. Why just not ask to begin with.

Because it's a social stigma.

Not asking ≠ Being inclusive.

Going by reputation is really the thing to do for companies who don't want to buy a stall at the parade.

Check out these resources published by the HRC:

https://www.hrc.org/resources/employer-resources

Also, you may have an LGBT employee. We tend to be only as visible as we are comfortable. There really is no way to tell.

What makes a company LGBT friendly?

There are some good resources out there. Especially at the HRC. Mostly it's just overtly saying "You are welcome here." But there are other things like single user gender neutral restrooms and anti-discrimination policies. Making dress codes transgender friendly helps too.

https://www.hrc.org/resources/employer-resources

Domo might (Utah)... there are billboards about them hiring, and it says... Domo loves LGBTQ and everybody else too! ..it's dumb/cheesy, but whatevs.

I'm straight, but personally I think if I were lgbt, I'd want a company that gives equal opportunity and benefits on merit not sexual orientation, gender, race, etc... and lets me be..I'm also an introvert, I wouldn't want everyone being all in my business and gossiping about things.

> I’d want a company that gives equal opportunity and benefits based on merit not sexual orientation

LGBT friendly does not mean “preference given to LGBT people.”

My point was 'making a big deal' or 'look at us we support LGBT' ... I feel that ...a lot of times you can go a bit overboard... and maybe give preference to minorities... It's kind of like... when you see a disabled person and you try to help, but they feel slighted because they're perfectly able/capable of doing it themselves...I have autism, and have no filter, though so if I offend in my statement don't take it personal.

Not sure if I got my point across.

Ultimate Software

Our health insurance covers IVF (3 rounds), gender confirmation surgery, parental leave for adoption, etc. We also have an active employee resource group PrideUS for LGBTQ+ and allies.

Job openings here: : https://www.ultimatesoftware.com/careers/

(Disclaimer: I work for Ultimate Software, but I'm not in recruiting)

Thank you

ThoughtWorks is probably the most inclusion / diversity focused company I've ever worked for. I'd highly recommend them.

Thanks

Facebook is fwiw a pretty LGBT-friendly company from what I've observed (the other day a trans woman in my group was finally able to go full-time and there was nothing but excitement), and transgender healthcare is 100% covered (even for non-medical procedures).

Come work at Trulia and help us build things like this!

https://www.trulia.com/blog/tech/local-legal-protections/

Thanks I'll pass that along

Willis Towers Watson is hiring, and their own promotional materials make a claim regarding their LGBTQ-friendliness. Unfortunately I have no more information than that.

Check out lgbt.slack.com. I believe there's also a spreadsheet that can be accessed once you're signed in and have resource access.

Thank you

Check out Duo security, located in Michigan. Have openings, and LGBT friendly from the top down. Duo.com.

NPM!

UK or US?

a.k.a the only two countries in the world

It's easy to read that as an either-or, but you could also frame it as an either-of-these-two? I wouldn't jump to conclusions.

Aka the only two countries I've had experience with and for which I could answer the original question.

The person in question is in CA

cPanel

Reply on news.ycombinator.com