We want everyone at Deloitte to feel they can be themselves at work, and we want to enable our LGBT+ colleagues to feel confident in being who they are and empowered to thrive within Deloitte and within the societies Deloitte serves.
The International Transgender Day of Visibility takes place every year on 31 March and is a global celebration of trans people and their contribution to society, as well as a day for raising awareness of the discrimination that the trans community still faces.
This year, we're spotlighting six of our Deloitte transgender and nonbinary colleagues from different corners of the globe. We are proud to amplify their voices and bring to light what this day means to them and why visibility and allyship are so important.
Deloitte's global Pride campaign ‘Can you see me, do you hear me?’ focused on the importance of our LGBT+ colleagues being seen and heard as their true authentic selves. Building on the themes of the Can you see me film series, we amplified the voices of the Deloitte LGBT+ community and allies by sharing their personal stories.
"Being in the closet would be like... It would be like being in a beautiful tropical place, but always wearing an overcoat, always covering yourself, because you don't want to be seen."
"Is there anybody out there? In many ways, this feeling describes my coming out journey as trans, especially as a person of color. I generally don’t see people that look like me around me or in positions of leadership."
"My commitment to allyship is driven by growing up as a Black man in America. There've been so many circumstances where I have people who have cared about me speak up, stand up, and be an ally. It would be incomprehensible to me for me not to pay that forward."
“When I think about visibility, to me it all comes back to representation. If people don’t see LGBT+ senior leaders around them, they’ll be hesitant to be open themselves because of the historical stigma that people have faced being out. And you can’t be what you can’t see.”
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In 2018 we proudly signed up to the UN Standards of Conduct for Business in Tackling Discrimination against LGBTI people (the UN Standards). Our actions to further LGBT+ inclusion are aligned with the five core areas of these standards. Our commitment to the UN Standards is reflected in our global LGBT+ inclusion strategy and in our Global Code, Global Anti-discrimination and Anti-harassment Policy, Supplier Code and Commitment to Responsible Business Practices.
And in line with the UN standard to act in the public sphere, Deloitte is proud to be a member of the Partnership for Global LGBTIQ+ Equality. We have also joined the Brunswick Group’s coalition Open for Business, which is a network of major businesses campaigning for LGBT+ inclusion globally.
We believe the power of ‘allyship’ is a critical element of LGBT+ diversity, whereby our people support the rights and well-being of their LGBT+ colleagues, visibly and vocally, every day. Through allyship, we are encouraging our people to amplify the voices of their LGBT+ peers, while also creating platforms for our LGBT+ community to be seen and heard.
We are focused on providing our transgender colleagues with the support and environment needed—both as they transition and beyond. To this end, we have developed and rolled out transgender inclusion guidance globally, providing a wealth of resources and guidance for Deloitte firms when it comes to this important aspect of LGBT+ inclusion.
In line with our focus on LGBT+ inclusion on a global basis, we have established a global baseline setting the standard for LGBT+ inclusion across Deloitte to help create a consistent, inclusive experience for all our LGBT+ colleagues while taking into account differences in the legal, cultural and societal landscape with regards to LGBT+ inclusion.