Fabrice Houdart | A weekly newsletter on LGBTQ+ Equality
This week: LGBTQ+ Board Monitor 2023, all eyes on India, Uganda, and the Pope, the US movement loses the narrative, #ProudToBeWoke, Anheuser-Busch, Disney and Lego somewhat embattled and more...
This week: LGBTQ+ Board Monitor 2023, all eyes on India, Uganda, and the Pope, the US movement loses the narrative, #ProudToBeWoke, Anheuser-Busch, Disney, and Lego somewhat embattled and more...
Global News
All Eyes on India: hearings on marriage equality
Yesterday, the Supreme Court’s hearings of the arguments on marriage equality started. They will last another two days (you can watch live on YouTube here). A decision is expected by the end of the summer. I am more confident after my trip, where I spoke with many friends starting with Parmesh Shahani and Radhika Piramal, Ram, and Srini at Pride Circle, Zainab Patel, Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, Harish Iyer, the team at the Keshav Suri Foundation and many more… I have rated the chances of a favorable decision at 70%. On Monday, I shared with you my thoughts on the environment, including the relative disinterest from both the government and the general public. It would be the perfect time for Bollywood and the local private sector to remind the court, they support equality. If you want to make your assessment, check out the BBC coverage.
India (again): economic empowerment and the Trans café
On my last day in Mumbai, I visited my friend Zainab Patel’s Trans café with LGBTQ+ champions extraordinaire Krishna Omkar and Jon Tilli. Lately, I have observed activists globally shifting gears from focusing solely on advocacy to a focus on economic empowerment. As if the realization that the quickest way to economic inclusion might be to become the economy. The trans café is an excellent example of how a small investment in entrepreneurship can lead to 15 employment and improved lives for community members. See Jon Tilli’s post here.
Uzbekistan, EBRD, and the persecution of homosexuals
Uzbek authorities like - no, DEMAND - to be described as a « vibrant democracy.» I would know they were my clients at the World Bank for four years. Multilaterals tend to comply, so the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is having its annual meetings in Samarkand on an international day against Homophobia and Transphobia. A young Uzbek refugee, asylum seeker, and queer activist, Anvar Latipov, met in Washington last week with the Dean of the World Bank Board of Directors, the Managing Director of the Asian Development Bank, and the EBRD President with the same message "Use your influence to get the government to help the queer community"” Latipov also met with US Ambassador Wong from the ADB and asked the US to support the effort. Read this 2021 article by Latipov describing the governmental persecution of homosexuals.
Uganda: the Catholic Church and LGBTQ+ people
This week HRW’s Graeme Reid suggested it might be an “apt moment to recall Pope Francis’s recent statements that laws criminalizing homosexuality are “unjust,” and that the Catholic Church can and should oppose them.” Read more in the Human Rights Watch press release. Frank Mugisha was interviewed on DemocracyNow this week. You can read the transcript here:
“The challenge now is that the anti-gay movements have radicalized Ugandans against any person who supports the LGBTQ community. So now we are losing some of our partners because of fear of homophobia and transphobia “
Portugal: GAYme changer launched in Portugal
This week saw the launch of the Portuguese version of the book "GAYME CHANGER" by Jens Schadendorf, at El Corte Inglês in Lisbon. On stage,. The Who’s Who of gay Portugal: Rui Oliveira Marques, Pedro Pina, Joana Cadete Pires, and Adolfo Mesquita Nunes.
US News
Trans human rights: between self-congratulations and losing the plot
I know I repeat myself but the U.S. LGBTQ+ movement has lost the narrative in public opinion on transgender people’s human rights (an estimated 1.3 million adults and 300,000 children in the United States) with global negative consequences. Everybody can see this. Yet, the movement’s leadership incessantly self-congratulate for its strategic activism “Just last week, I was in Davos” (audience clapping). So where is the disconnect? A YouGov survey (see here) sponsored by The Economist found that majorities of Americans oppose allowing transgender students to play on sports teams that correspond with their gender identity (strongly oppose: 43%, somewhat oppose 12%) and allowing parents to give their transgender kids puberty-blocking drugs (strongly oppose: 39%, somewhat oppose 14%) which unfortunately, is what the debate in the US is all about. My suggestion: accountability for the organizations we trusted to craft the narrative.
And the other side is being strategic…
This article titled “How a Campaign Against Transgender Rights Mobilized Conservatives” is a must-read if you are not boycotting the New York Times (see below). It looks at the history of the strategy but also how it is now enforced on the right. The key sentence here is: “Some on the left are still uncertain about how to navigate the fraught politics of transgender issues best.” Since our opponents crafted the narrative, we have been playing catch-up.
“it was also the result of careful planning by national conservative organizations to harness the emotion around gender politics.”
GLAAD denounces the NYTimes one category of vehicles at a time
Remember the plane? now there is the truck…. On Monday, GLAAD posted a truck outside the Times offices in New York City, displaying digital billboards protesting the paper’s coverage of trans people and topics. Hopefully, GLAAD will use a boat on the Hudson River next time to change America’s hearts and minds, and maybe SKE can borrow Cynthia Nixon’s fishing attire.
From the Boardroom
The Association’s inaugural LGBTQ+ Board monitor report
Yesterday morning we published our inaugural report, including results from our 2023 survey of existing and aspiring LGBTQ+ Directors, a review of 2022 developments, and a nominative tally of LGBTQ+ directors from private and publicly listed companies. See our Linkedin post here. This report is unique compared to others that are content reporting statistics on Board guidelines and disclosures year after year. Our approach is different; we spoke to the current board members and highly-qualified prospective board members to better understand WHY the numbers are so low and identify solutions to the barriers to entry for LGBTQ+ individuals. Discover some unique insights here; please share the report and like our post.
Here is some suggested language: “A must-read. In its inaugural LGBTQ+ monitor report, the Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors highlights the subtle mechanisms which lead to the abysmal LGBTQ+ representation in the U.S. corporate Boardroom. With 26 openly LGBTQ+ people in Fortune 500 and another 93 beyond that group in private and public companies, the Association invites recruiters and boards to discover the untapped pool of candidates.”
The Gay Business
Pride Night at Disney
Courrier International report on the woke Mickey Mouse battle. Disney is doubling down by hosting a Pride night in its park. Vanity Fair had a nice line this week:
Ron DeSantis has not yet announced that he will run for president [..] but there’s a campaign slogan he should consider—Ron DeSantis: If you like petty tyrants, he’s your guy. And we’re guessing Walt Disney would be happy to cover the costs of printing lawn signs and underwriting various merch
The dangerous LGBTQ+ pins at LEGO
On a lighter note, random John K Amanchukwu Sr managed s to make a name for himself when he went to the LEGO store to harass employees for wearing Pride pins on their uniforms (the gall !!!). The video is worth watching. You cannot help but feel sorry for the workers and innocent prisoners in the great American culture war.
Anheuser Busch and woke beverages
Fun fact Anheuser Busch has a lesbian on their board, M. Michele Burns, also on the board of Goldman Sachs. Isn’t it twisted that I had to enter my birthdate to check out their boards while I could freely roam the Remington website? America! Anyway, I digress. My point is that Budweiser is out with a new ad campaign after facing a boycott for its partnership with a transgender celebrity, Dylan Mulvaney. Now both sides are angry. See here. For a minute, I thought maybe Anheuser Busch had hired Geoff Morrell to deal with the crisis, but no, he still works at Teneo.
IGLTA Report: acceptance through tourism
Our friends at the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA) released their report on "How the Private Sector Can Drive LGBTQ+ Tourism Development in Emerging Destinations" I had the privilege to join the third IGLTA Foundation Leadership Think Tank in Milan at Google in 2022, where we discussed the vital role private sector participation plays in developing LGBTQ+ tourism in emerging destinations. This report provides practical recommendations for businesses that want to get involved and promote inclusive travel. You can download the report here.
From the cultural desk
Logan Roy is dead, but look what’s coming down the HBO pipeline
Starting at the beginning of June, nepo-baby Lily-Rose Depp, who looks a lot like her mum Vanessa Paradis, as Jocelyn, a fame-hungry young woman looking to take over the entertainment industry. Jocelyn's career expands to new heights when she meets Tedros, an influential, sex-obsessed cult leader portrayed by Abel “The Weekend” Tesfaye.
Stephen Hough’s memoir
Sometimes I wonder if we will have less queer genius or more queer genius as we gain acceptance. Last week, the NYTimes published a piece on pianist Stephen Hough’s memoir: “Enough: scenes from Childhood” and you wonder if his passion for piano is not linked to the confusing experience of growing up gay in a straight world only to stumble into the AIDS epidemic.
Pre-order: “Authentic Selves”
Next month, “Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families” comes out. Here is an extract from the preface by Brian K. Bond, Executive Director of PFLAG National:
“Any one of them could be your neighbor, your friend, your local official, a person you know from your faith community—or your own child.”
A quote from Anne Frank that applies to “wokeism”
My friend Jean-Pierre Comte, a tremendous ally to our community, gifted me this moving book by Lola Lafon. Lafon spent the night in the hiding place, the Frank family's last place of residence in Amsterdam, where Anne wrote her diary. In it, I discovered this quote from Anne Frank which felt so apropos:
“No one will make me believe that war is only caused by great men, rulers, and capitalists. Oh no, the little people like to do it just as much. Otherwise, the people would have rebelled against it a long time ago (...) And as long as all of humanity, without exception, has not undergone a significant metamorphosis, war will rage, everything that has been built, cultivated, everything that has developed will be cut off and annihilated, to start again afterward! "
That’s what being woke is! Combating the inevitability of our condition and seeking metamorphosis. #ProudToBeWoke
The Gay Agenda
Tonight: see you at HousingWorks
Very excited about the Groundbreaker Awards Dinner 2023 at the Metropolitan Pavilion at 6:00 PM
Tomorrow night: The Taiano and Houdart(s) show
Drink from our fountain of wisdom at RiseOUT in NYC with Joe Taiano: Stepping into your power. Please RSVP here to join us and also meet my wondrous sons, as I did not manage to offload them on Jonathan Daly this time. #SingleDad
April 21st: develop your board narrative/materials
The Association of LGBTQ+ Corporate Directors is hosting Tissa Richards on April 21st at noon EST for a session titled: "How to develop your board narrative/materials to increase success” Register here.
June 16ht: 9th Annual International East meets West Conference
Pavel and Ludo are back! The annual conference will take place this year in Vienna on June 16th with the theme “Paving a new way.”
Coming and going
A DEI job at the International Monetary Fund
A handful of times, I represented the World Bank at the IMF Board and remember being served biscuits in white gloves. So, I guess this could be a fascinating DEI job beyond picking up the Managing Director from Sofitel or Rykers. Consider applying for this position at the International Monetary Fund.
I am rushing to finish this as I have an early lunch at the Century Association, but thank you for reading; please share our Board Diversity report on social media. As usual, thank you for being part of a global movement and caring about these issues.