ICYMI: Pride Under Pressure

Jennie Glazer, CEO at Coqual, a global think tank helping companies redesign how they work and lead. A strategist, facilitator, and builder of high-performing teams, Jennie leads Coqual’s research, advisory, and insight platforms—guiding senior leaders through complexity and toward clarity, trust, and measurable impact. Here, she discusses their latest report that offers urgent new data, stark realities, and a path forward for companies navigating rising backlash, legal uncertainty, and employee fear.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. This is Bloomberg BusinessWeek
with Carol Masser and Tim Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
It is Pride Month and this story I did not
hear about Carol until doing research for this next interview.
Over in Europe, the mayor of Budapest vowed to ignore
police decision to ban the city's annual Pride parade, setting
up a showdown with Nationalist Prime Minister Victor Orbon. Police
cited a recently approved law cracking down on LGBTQ public

(00:36):
events for banning the June twenty eighth parade. This, according
to a statement on Thursday, the decision followed the mayor's
attempt to circumvent an earlier ban by helping to organize
the parade under the capital's authority. So, the idea of
Pride Month and everything happening with Pride Month and the
pullback that we've seen from companies not just happening here

(00:57):
in the US.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
No, you bring out a good point. Survey of corporate
execs reveal that two and five we're scaling back Pride
Month engagement this year, leaving organizers scrambling for funds. And
then Back in May, New York City Pride announced it
was looking at a seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars
budget shortfall and launched a community fundraising campaign to keep
the event free to attend. There's a lot going on here.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
Today, Yeah, Jenny Glazers all over at Jenny's CEO of
the nonprofit think tank Coke Wool, Jenny joins us from Brooklyn. Jenny,
this not surprising to you. I could see you nodding
as we were reading this. Coke Wol though out with
a new report, Pride under pressure. This is not necessarily
a new phenomenon this year, that we've seen this kind
of happening over the last couple of years. What did

(01:41):
you find in the survey?

Speaker 4 (01:43):
Well, we've really found that safety isn't guaranteed anymore, not
even at work. We found that twenty one percent of
LGBTQ plus professionals in the US say that they or
their families have been harmed by rising hate crimes. That
fear doesn't stop at the It affects how people live,
where they work, and whether they feel safe to be themselves.

(02:06):
One lesbian professional in South Africa told us she hides
indoors when she visits her hometown. She said, going outside,
you're just going to get ten comments telling you that
you're going to hell or worse. What we're finding is
the backlash isn't staying outside the office, it's walking in
the door.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
Why did you feel like you needed to do this report.

Speaker 4 (02:29):
Ah, because LGBTQ plus inclusion affects more people than you think. Globally,
nine percent of adults identify as LGBTQ plus, and nearly
half non LGBTQ plus professionals have a close friend or
family member in the community. That means nearly one in
two workers are directly invested in how LGBTQ plus people

(02:52):
are treated. And these professionals cut excuse me to cut
across race, cast, class, gender, disability, and more. Inclusion for
this group isn't about checking a box. It's about understanding
how a culture really works.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Jenny, why do you.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Think we're seeing such a pushback in America when it
comes to this issue? And I think it's safe to
say when you look at political elections, certainly the presidential
you know, half of America seems to feel one way
and half of America seems to feel another way. So
let's be careful about lopping everybody together, right, But why
did we get to this point.

Speaker 4 (03:32):
I think we saw in our research that there was
a sense of some of this being performative, and I
think people were really asking our systems really ready to
spond And we're finding in our data are systems really
ready to respond to bias not just promote diversity. So
we're really thinking about this as people in various parts

(03:57):
of the country need to navigate what's happening based on laws, context, etc.
It's very complicated.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
If we were to think about acceptance as a chart
or on this spectrum. And you know, we see things
getting worse right now around the world. Where did things peak,
when were they best? Or is that the wrong way
to look at it.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
Well, we did this report nearly ten years ago, and
it's very interesting to think about what the spectrum is.
We really tried to think about what's changed in these
past ten years. And I think we used to think
we want to make it possible so with an optimistic

(04:48):
point of view that everyone can come and be their
authentic selves at work. That's not showing up right now,
and so we're really trying to think about how do
we help equip leaders and individuals to really create belonging
at work so that people can work productively as teams
right now.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
Got to say, I walked in today and there's a
big sign acknowledging you Pride Month and pride here at Bloomberg.
We've had conversations Tim and I with various business leaders
who say, we're still going to do what we want
to do, but we're just not going to talk about
it a lot. But our companies or the corporate community,
are they failing the LGBTQ community right now in some ways?

Speaker 4 (05:27):
So we work with hundreds of Fortune five hundred companies
who are global multinationals, and what we're seeing actually is
eighty four percent of our members are doing what we
call above ground below ground, meaning they might be publicly.
And one of the reasons why they're scrubbing is to

(05:49):
protect employees because there is a lot of attention paid
on companies and it creates unintended consequences for employees. So
they've really tried to think and be conservative about what's
out there publicly. But they're thinking the long game. They
know that creating conditions for employees to thrive at work,

(06:12):
that people can be who they are that they have
health insurance, they can care for their loved ones. That's
just a basic need that people need no matter where
you are. We're finding that investment and focus hasn't changed, but.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
A slippery slope. When you talk about people scrubbing, you know,
and not necessarily wanting to be identified with certain policies,
it just makes me think, Okay, then what's the next step?

Speaker 4 (06:36):
Right?

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Yeah, if the idea is not to draw attention to yourself,
you know, it's like where do you ultimately draw the line.
It's an interesting conversation to be having in a country
where we sow prize and value freedom of speech and
freedom of thought and freedom of action as long as
you're not harming or hurting you know, others, And so

(06:57):
it's an interesting moment in time.

Speaker 4 (06:59):
It is. And keep in mind that this is the
US we're talking about right now. Throughout the world again,
we work with global multinationals, a third of whom are
headquartered outside of the US. It's a very different conversation.
So in the US, I don't think they're scrubbing to curtail,

(07:20):
but I think they're really trying to think about how
do we protect employees in this moment, and there is
a lot of uncertainty and complexity, So I have a
feeling over time we'll see companies come out with clearer
language messaging that's more about what is the evolution of
how we want to drive inclusion. So I'm seeing behind

(07:42):
the scenes that those things are forthcoming.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
Jenny, good to catch up with you. Thanks for joining
us on this Friday. Do appreciate it. Jenny Glazer, the
CEO of the nonprofit think tank Koch Will joining us
from Brooklyn