Global Business Travel Can Still Present a Vexing Challenge for LGBT Travelers
Skift Take
Companies are providing more information to help employees make educated decisions about business travel to countries that criminalize same-sex relationships. Travel managers must make such guidance available to everyone — and companies should have an advocate or employee resource group in place to support travelers with concerns.
While Western companies increasingly encourage their employees to be themselves at work, people can run into laws and customs that don't accept their identities when they travel for business.
It’s a contradiction that corporate travel managers are trying to cope with as they consider their responsibility to keep lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) employees safe as they travel. More than 70 countries still criminalize same-sex relationships. In some cases, asking a partner to join you on a business trip or even showing your photos on a social media app can draw unwanted attention.
“You can’t be yourself when you go to these places,” said Jeremy Wilkes, LGBT travel adviser for beTravelwise, a travel safety training and education provider based in the United Kingdom. “You have to moderate your behavior. It’s not an easy thing to talk about and get right policy-wise.”
One particular trouble area can be social media, where employee
