Rainbow Lanyards: Bisexuality, Queering and the Corporatisation of LGBT Inclusion

Abstract

This article presents the powerful account of Hannah, a woman working in a UK university who identifies as bisexual and queer. Hannah’s voice reflects a younger generation of workers who have come of age with the emergence of queer theory and activism supporting greater LGBT rights. Her narrative illustrates the tensions around developing an inclusive stance towards diverse sexual identities at work. Hannah’s account resonates with critical views of diversity management and inclusion practices, where non-normative minority identities are reduced to corporate categories and initiatives for management by majorities. More specifically, the account presented also covers the complexities and challenges of discussing and disclosing gendered sexualities at work, namely bisexuality, which serves as an illustration of ‘queering’ – a resistance towards understanding identities as fixed, manageable and binary. The article provides insight into how and why sexual identity matters for issues of power and conflict at work.