I don't want to tell you where I work or who our clients are, but I want to tell you what happened today in as little detail as I can to get my point across. I'm still kind of rattled about it, so I may not be in the best frame of mind to think clearly or communicate clearly. So bear with me.
I work for a business that serves other businesses. Today, one of our clients sent us an email about their diversity requirements. I say requirements because that's how they put it. They are so committed to making sure we are diverse, that they are requiring us to submit information about the race, gender identity, and sexual preferences of our staff. They are doing this to make sure we meet their diversity standards.
I understand the desire to want to make sure people who have historically been marginalized are marginalized no longer so they have an equal chance at success with everybody else. That is an admirable goal. What I have a serious problem with is the way they are going about trying to make that happen.
First of all, the only way to comply with this mandate is for us to essentially ask our staff who they like to sleep with. Do they like to sleep with men, women, both, or something that's neither? I'm especially fuming because today I was asked to submit information about a recent person we hired. In the excel spreadsheet they sent me to fill out, it had a column for LGBTQ, which I left blank becasue I wasn't about to ask such a personal and intrusive question. It's none of my business, and it's none of our client's business who she likes to sleep with. But the client returned the spreadsheet to me and told me I had to fill out all of the columns. My answer is hell no. I'm not sure it's even legal to ask a new hire that question or make it a factor in whether we hire them or not.
That brings me to the second reason this pisses me off. Discrimination and forced diversification are horns on the same goat. If you have one slot open, and you must hire a member of Group-X, that means your must not hire a member of Group Not-X. By forcing us to be diverse, they are forcing us to discriminate based on arbitrary criteria.
In truth, we are a very diverse company. We discriminate based on qualifications, work history, and other things that go in a resume--things that are relevant--but we do not discriminate based on race, gender identity, or sexual preference. However, if we are forced into diversity, and we weren't already diverse enough, we would have to discriminate based on race, gender identity, and sexual preference. I resent that requirement even if we happen to already be in compliance.
Race isn't really that personal, but asking people who they like to sleep with is way too personal and intrusive to ask people in a job interview. And employees shouldn't be required to provide that information to their employers or to their employers' clients.
I am just infuriated with these nutjobs who are so committed to promoting one particular good that they'll embrace any bad as a means to that end. Their moral compass is out of balance.
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