Gütersloh, 05/18/2020

Be.queer Celebrates Its Third Anniversary

Subject: Society, Employees
Country: International
Category: Project

Sunday, May 17, 2020, marked a milestone in Bertelsmann's commitment to diversity and tolerance. At IDAHOBIT, the international day against homophobia, biphobia, interphobia and transphobia, the Bertelsmann employee network "be.queer" celebrated its third anniversary. With a creative photo campaign, the network set an example for more tolerance and diversity.

The “be.queer” network was established by employees in Germany with the goal to promote an open and creative work environment for all within the Group, regardless of their sexual identity and orientation. Since then, the network has not only gained many committed members through regular newsletters, meet-ups and activities, but has also received the LGBT*IQ award  from the PROUT AT WORK Foundation. The support of numerous "Executive Sponsors", who support "be.queer" through their patronage and as multipliers, also shows the increasing importance of "be.queer" in the company. Michael Lauk, chairman of the network, emphasises: "'be.queer' is growing steadily and we are increasingly networking internationally. COVID 19 has also thwarted many plans for us, but we still have many new ideas. We can always count on the great commitment of our members". This year, the network had to do without a birthday party, but a colourful birthday cake still came from network member Simone Mango from Baden-Baden.

The foundation of "be.queer" in 2017 was deliberately put on the international day against homo-, bi-, inter- and transphobia. This day refers to the discrimination and hostility towards sexual and gender minorities. On 17 May 1990, the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its diagnostic key for diseases. In 2020 the motto is "Breaking the Silence". To mark this occasion, "be.queer" recently launched a Group-internal photo campaign and prepared a video collage (related to the IDAHOBIT logo) from among the submissions. In order to set an example to the outside world, the Bertelsmann logo was displayed with rainbow colors on Bertelsmann's social media channels last weekend.