Gay M.B.A. Students Make Strides on Wall Street
- NYT 8/10 - Dealbook column - excerpted from Businesweek article
"In days past, the world of Wall Street was not especially known for its gay-friendly atmosphere. But today, firms are making serious efforts to attract and keep the rising number of gay masters of business administration students, a BusinessWeek article reports.
Companies like Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase and Lehman Brothers, which are hosting the Ninth Annual Reaching Out Conference for 600 gay professionals and students and 60 companies, are simply responding to the numbers. About 86 percent of top business schools now host a gay student group, up from 50 percent in 1995, a 2002 study found. A 2006 report by gay-rights organization Human Rights Campaign states that the gay community now has a buying power of about $641 billion, with nearly 70 percent of gay people loyal to companies with tolerant work policies.
According to the Human Rights Campaign’s State of the Workplace Survey for 2005-2006, Wall Street firms listed in the Fortune 500 offer at least some protections against discrimination for gay workers. Morgan Stanley includes sexual orientation in its equal employment opportunity policy, as well as offers domestic partner benefits. Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch offer both, and also include gender identity and/or expression in their anti-discrimination policies.
To be sure, making workplaces fully open to gay professionals isn’t yet complete: a senior manager at PricewaterhouseCooper estimates that 90 percent of her gay friends are not out at work, and a senior associate at the firm details resistance to fixing hostilities at previous employers..."
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