ABSTRACT
Sexual orientation is an issue of growing importance for organisations. It has become an important source of employee, client and customer diversity, as people increasingly feel able to self-identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) in society and in the workplace. The legislative and policy framework concerning equality and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation has been undergoing a transformation across Europe since the introduction of the European Employment Equality Directive (2000) (Waaldijk and Bonini-Baraldi 2006). As a result, organisations have begun to include sexual orientation in their equality and diversity policies. It is argued that this is long overdue on social justice grounds given that research has long shown that LGB people experience discrimination and harassment at work (Day and Schoenrade 2000; Colgan et al. 2007). In addition, employers increasingly see a business case for developing good practice around sexual orientation at work (Trau and Hartel 2004; Stonewall 2008a). However, despite a liberalisation in social attitudes and more comprehensive anti-discrimination legislative framework, LGB people may still experience barriers within organisations (Colgan et al. 2006).
