'You're probably around more queer people than you think.' Exactly how to be an ally at work.

While World Pride celebrations are over for another year, that doesn’t mean the LGBTQIA+ community have put their flags away, waved goodbye, and gone into hibernation until next year. 

In fact, now that World Pride has wrapped, it’s the ongoing work we do that really counts. Particularly in workplaces, where so many of us spend a large majority of our lives. 

So the question is, how do we continue to show up? And, how do we be an ally in the workplace? 

Though I’m openly gay myself, we called upon an actual, real-life, and experienced champion, Josh Starkweather, Software Development Manager at Amazon, to give us his insight.

"Software Development Manager…? How does software make Josh an expert?" I’m sure you’re wondering.

Josh is an openly queer man, and a member of Glamazon, Amazon Australia’s LGBTQIA+ employee affinity group – who’s driven significant positive change for the LGBTQIA+ community at the company. He’s also a proud beacon of support for Amazon LGBTQIA+ employees and an all-around legend (in my professional opinion). 

Here's the advice he shared about being an ally at work. 

Open your door.

Being open is the crucial first step to anything, but especially to be a good ally. 

“The big thing that I'm always trying to explain to people is, you need to understand the value of diverse perspectives, in order to then be a good ally,” Josh tells Mamamia.

It’s the curiosity to learn more, the willingness to learn about other diverse perspectives, the openness to accept people different from yourself, and the continuous ability to grow and shift with changes that get you most of the way to being an ally. 

Watch: Amazon Australia's Josh Starkweather sharing his personal story. Post continues below.

Be loud.

Josh said Amazon was “the first job that I was out of the closet from, from day zero.” And though there were many pieces that attributed to this, he noted that one loud and public act of support from Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, helped him to feel safe. 

When Jeff Bezos “funded campaigns all over the country to try and get legalised [same sex] marriage… I think seeing the leadership of a company putting his ‘money where his mouth was’, as we say, was really inspiring to me.” Josh says.

Our words and actions matter. By being an open, vocal supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community, we are creating a safe space for people to be their true selves. The impact of this means people our LGBTQIA+ community can come to work without any hidden burdens.

“It was a real eye-opener to see how much of a difference [being out at work] made for me as a person. When people are saying what they did over the weekend, do I include my husband? Or do I, you know, kind of feel bad about excluding him from my stories so that people don't ask questions? All that takes a toll.” Josh said.

Be brave.

Josh says, “it's really important when you're in a position of privilege to be brave, and to take risks that are safe for you to take, because other people may not be ready for that.”

Josh was born in the US and moved with Amazon to Australia a few years ago. At this time, Josh and his husband were also in the long process of becoming fathers through surrogacy. 

Image: Supplied.

When they moved to Sydney, Josh recalls that the local Amazon Australia parenting and paternity policy “was very, very unclear about what we would get as a same-sex couple wanting to do a surrogacy journey.” He quickly checked with HR, who came back and confirmed that their parenting policy absolutely covers same-sex couples undergoing surrogacy. 

This meant it wasn't a matter of exclusion, but a matter of vague wording in the policy. 

Rather than learning this and continuing on, Josh made the decision to be brave and work towards getting the policy wording changed, so that no other queer couples had to face the same uncertainty.

Policy changes take time, but Josh’s continuous bravery meant that the official wording was revised, approved, and published to all Amazon employees across Australia and New Zealand. 

Ask for diverse opinions.

“What I imagined happened was a scenario where nobody intentionally excluded same-sex couples at all. To me, it's a situation that's created when they just didn't have enough perspectives in the room for somebody to pipe up and say, 'Hey, we should just take the gendering out of this, is it even necessary?'” Josh tells Mamamia.

When decisions are being made for the workplace, it’s so important to have diversity. If your decision-making team doesn’t include any representation from minority groups themselves, then inviting external feedback and researching is the best way to forge ahead.

It was Amazon Australia's reception to Josh's feedback, which made sure the parenting policy at Amazon Australia was updated. This inspired some of Josh’s coworkers to since feel comfortable to come out to him and their wider team, and bring Josh to us at Mamamia, talking openly about navigating life as a gay man. 

Hearing all that Josh has done in a workplace so open and supportive of our community moved me. I must admit my heart felt like it was going to explode by the end of our chat. 

So, to all the current and future allies out there, keep going for us. Every moment of support at work counts and helps to create an inclusive, diverse workplace.

And to our fellow LGBTQIA+ people, Josh reminds us: “It's okay to remind people you exist.”  

Feature Image: Supplied.