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Sexuality and the City
The Guardian, 3-5-2007
The banker: 'I've never tried to hide it'
When I first started working for a bank in the City, around 20 years ago, I still hadn't properly come out as a gay man, even to myself. But within three years I had found myself a boyfriend and one year after that I'd come out to all my family and friends. However, I still felt that being an out gay man in the macho City environment would be a bad idea.
So when I got asked to work in Singapore for a few months in the early 1990s, I had a dilemma. Most young guys would jump at an opportunity like that, but it was clear to my boss that something was troubling me, so he took me into a room off the trading floor to ask me about it. "I think there is something worrying you about this Singapore project we have asked you to do," said my boss. "Is there any way I can help?"
I sat there and looked at his smiling, open face and decided that I could trust him.
"Er, well," I replied, "I'm not sure how to tell you this so I'm just going to say it. I don't know what to do about my boyfriend while I'm away. I'll miss him terribly and he'll miss me, I'm sure."
The poor guy's face went as white as a sheet. But, as I found out later, it was only because he had no idea how to handle the situation. I was worried about whether I'd just ruined my career, but my boss was concerned to make sure that he didn't discriminate against me because of my sexuality. And in fact, the bank was so anxious to treat me fairly that it offered to fly my boyfriend out to Singapore to visit me regularly during my stay there. Although I have never really come out at work, since then I have never tried to hide it either. My rule has been to avoid telling lies about girlfriends I don't have, and concentrate on doing a good job for whoever I have been working for.
Of course, as a result of coming out to my boss in the early 1990s, everyone who has worked with me has ended up knowing that I'm gay. Back then, my boss told his boss, and once his PA knew then all the other secretaries knew, and everyone else found out from there by a process of osmosis. I've worked for several other banks since, and on the most recent occasion when I changed jobs I asked the people who had worked for me at that bank whether they knew I was gay. Initially, they were embarrassed that I'd asked the question but, of course, somehow they all knew, and no one had cared.
I guess Lord Browne comes from an older generation than me, where homosexuality was much more taboo. Like many guys, I had a hard time admitting to myself that I was gay, but once I'd crossed the Rubicon in that respect it quickly became clear to me that no one really cared that much. But during Browne's formative years homosexuality was still a criminal offence.
Things have changed a lot in the City in recent years. These days, every bank seems to have some kind of internal network of gay employees, and there is even a regular inter-bank drinks gathering for gay men and women who work in wholesale finance. Poor Browne seems to have sunk himself for keeping an unnecessary secret.
· Written by a gay City executive who writes an anonymous blog under the pseudonym GB. At his request, the fee for this article has been donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust.
The Guardian, 3-5-2007
The banker: 'I've never tried to hide it'
When I first started working for a bank in the City, around 20 years ago, I still hadn't properly come out as a gay man, even to myself. But within three years I had found myself a boyfriend and one year after that I'd come out to all my family and friends. However, I still felt that being an out gay man in the macho City environment would be a bad idea.
So when I got asked to work in Singapore for a few months in the early 1990s, I had a dilemma. Most young guys would jump at an opportunity like that, but it was clear to my boss that something was troubling me, so he took me into a room off the trading floor to ask me about it. "I think there is something worrying you about this Singapore project we have asked you to do," said my boss. "Is there any way I can help?"
I sat there and looked at his smiling, open face and decided that I could trust him.
"Er, well," I replied, "I'm not sure how to tell you this so I'm just going to say it. I don't know what to do about my boyfriend while I'm away. I'll miss him terribly and he'll miss me, I'm sure."
The poor guy's face went as white as a sheet. But, as I found out later, it was only because he had no idea how to handle the situation. I was worried about whether I'd just ruined my career, but my boss was concerned to make sure that he didn't discriminate against me because of my sexuality. And in fact, the bank was so anxious to treat me fairly that it offered to fly my boyfriend out to Singapore to visit me regularly during my stay there. Although I have never really come out at work, since then I have never tried to hide it either. My rule has been to avoid telling lies about girlfriends I don't have, and concentrate on doing a good job for whoever I have been working for.
Of course, as a result of coming out to my boss in the early 1990s, everyone who has worked with me has ended up knowing that I'm gay. Back then, my boss told his boss, and once his PA knew then all the other secretaries knew, and everyone else found out from there by a process of osmosis. I've worked for several other banks since, and on the most recent occasion when I changed jobs I asked the people who had worked for me at that bank whether they knew I was gay. Initially, they were embarrassed that I'd asked the question but, of course, somehow they all knew, and no one had cared.
I guess Lord Browne comes from an older generation than me, where homosexuality was much more taboo. Like many guys, I had a hard time admitting to myself that I was gay, but once I'd crossed the Rubicon in that respect it quickly became clear to me that no one really cared that much. But during Browne's formative years homosexuality was still a criminal offence.
Things have changed a lot in the City in recent years. These days, every bank seems to have some kind of internal network of gay employees, and there is even a regular inter-bank drinks gathering for gay men and women who work in wholesale finance. Poor Browne seems to have sunk himself for keeping an unnecessary secret.
· Written by a gay City executive who writes an anonymous blog under the pseudonym GB. At his request, the fee for this article has been donated to the Terrence Higgins Trust.
The oil consultant: 'There is a very gay-friendly culture at work'
I am 36 and have worked for 15 years as a consultant to the oil industry. There is a stereotype that oil is a very macho business but, oddly enough, I have found that there is a very gay-friendly culture at my work. When I joined I wasn't really out - and I am still not with some of my family - but, within a year, I had come out professionally. My colleagues have been enormously supportive and it has been a complete non-issue.
Over the years, I have experienced some puerile schoolboy banter. A completely unreconstructed colleague used to make the odd joke about it, although we actually became quite good friends. At one point, though, he made a joke about a client in front of our boss and ended up getting fired several months later. He was dismissed for a range of different reasons but that kind of attitude - he also made sexist comments about women - just was not tolerated.
A lot of my work is with clients across Europe, the Middle East and central Asia. I respect the culture I am in. I can't imagine tipping up in a Muslim country in shorts and a vest, but if I was straight I wouldn't turn up in shorts and a vest either. If clients figure out I am gay that is fine, but if they don't that is also fine. The only awkwardness was when I worked in Russia a decade or so ago. Occasionally a client would try and set me up with a female companion for the evening. I would get myself out of that situation, but the clients were not really guilty of homophobia - it was simply a different way of doing business.
Within the oil industry, it was common knowledge that John Browne was gay and no one cared about it. I can't remember him ever bringing a partner to an event but it just was not an issue. The issue was how to find oil reserves, how to make more money from reserves and how to improve efficiency.
The City tends to be a little bit more gung-ho and macho but I think that is a British trait as opposed to a characteristic of the industry. The financial markets in New York are much less puerile than they are in London. When I've worked with City institutions many of my clients have been women. I think they preferred the fact that my approach was slightly less macho than is typical. The oil industry is rather maligned with this macho stereotype. But the industry is interested in making money. It is not terribly bothered with people's sexuality.
I am 36 and have worked for 15 years as a consultant to the oil industry. There is a stereotype that oil is a very macho business but, oddly enough, I have found that there is a very gay-friendly culture at my work. When I joined I wasn't really out - and I am still not with some of my family - but, within a year, I had come out professionally. My colleagues have been enormously supportive and it has been a complete non-issue.
Over the years, I have experienced some puerile schoolboy banter. A completely unreconstructed colleague used to make the odd joke about it, although we actually became quite good friends. At one point, though, he made a joke about a client in front of our boss and ended up getting fired several months later. He was dismissed for a range of different reasons but that kind of attitude - he also made sexist comments about women - just was not tolerated.
A lot of my work is with clients across Europe, the Middle East and central Asia. I respect the culture I am in. I can't imagine tipping up in a Muslim country in shorts and a vest, but if I was straight I wouldn't turn up in shorts and a vest either. If clients figure out I am gay that is fine, but if they don't that is also fine. The only awkwardness was when I worked in Russia a decade or so ago. Occasionally a client would try and set me up with a female companion for the evening. I would get myself out of that situation, but the clients were not really guilty of homophobia - it was simply a different way of doing business.
Within the oil industry, it was common knowledge that John Browne was gay and no one cared about it. I can't remember him ever bringing a partner to an event but it just was not an issue. The issue was how to find oil reserves, how to make more money from reserves and how to improve efficiency.
The City tends to be a little bit more gung-ho and macho but I think that is a British trait as opposed to a characteristic of the industry. The financial markets in New York are much less puerile than they are in London. When I've worked with City institutions many of my clients have been women. I think they preferred the fact that my approach was slightly less macho than is typical. The oil industry is rather maligned with this macho stereotype. But the industry is interested in making money. It is not terribly bothered with people's sexuality.
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