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\n\u201cWith so much LGBT+ visibility on campus, I felt empowered to be true to myself\u201d<\/h3>\n
Having recently binged \u2018<\/span>And Just Like That\u2019<\/span><\/i>, a spinoff of the 90s hit show \u2018<\/span>Sex And The City\u2019<\/span><\/i>, I feel like Carrie Bradshaw writing this blogpost. So, let me begin by borrowing Carrie\u2019s iconic phrase. <\/span>I couldn\u2019t help but wonder: <\/span><\/i>What is it like to work at Imperial as a young, gay man?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As Export Control Support Officer in the Research Office, I help Imperial\u2019s academics protect their research from being misused, for example, in human rights violations or weapons development. My team and I train researchers on export control regulations and help them collaborate with overseas colleagues and funders safely. I\u2019m very proud of the contributions to national security we make together with our researchers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n At Imperial, I\u2019ve grown into the young professional I want to be.<\/span> An important part of that was learning to be more comfortable with being an openly gay man in the workplace.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After graduating in 2019, I wasn\u2019t sure how to handle my homosexuality at work. Did that have any place in a professional setting? Would it make colleagues uncomfortable? Would it alienate clients? In my first job at a big City firm<\/span>,<\/span> I decided to avoid the topic altogether. I didn\u2019t want to disadvantage myself compared to other junior colleagues.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n What didn\u2019t help was the overbearing toxic lad culture which dismisses non-white, non-cis, non-male life experiences, that is pervasive in the City and many other work environments. To fit in, I edited myself in many ways. Where straight male colleagues were casual with each other, I was always extremely professional to avoid making plain that I was different, that I couldn\u2019t relate to their heteronormative reality. At the time, I thought I was becoming more confident. Now I realise that I was muting myself. That lack of authenticity made me neither a better employee nor a happier person.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n During LGBT+ History Month I think about the gay men who suffered abuse, blackmail, violence, and intimidation in the workplace, who\u2019ve had their careers destroyed for whom they loved. Our community didn\u2019t achieve the rights we enjoy today by being silent or invisible. I now realise that being true to my sexuality and how it informs my personality not only makes me more successful at work, it\u2019s also a political statement of pride.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When I joined Imperial, no one assumed my sexuality. No one gave me the feeling that my authenticity would make them uncomfortable.<\/span> My colleagues were happy to welcome me as the person I am, and with so much LGBT+ visibility on campus, I felt empowered to be true to myself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWith so much LGBT+ visibility on campus, I felt empowered to be true to myself\u201d Having recently binged \u2018And Just Like That\u2019, a spinoff of the 90s hit show \u2018Sex And The City\u2019, I feel like Carrie Bradshaw writing this blogpost. So, let me begin by borrowing Carrie\u2019s iconic phrase. I couldn\u2019t help but wonder: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1554,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[288073],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-support-staff"],"yoast_head":"\n