A&O: LGBT groups face Middle East dilemma
The chair of Allen & Overy's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group has spoken out about the challenges the firm faces in jurisdictions where homosexuality is illegal.
A&O's LGBT group, A&Out, has members in the UK, as well as in Belgium, France, Russia, the United States and in Japan but there is no official representation in its Saudi Arabia or United Arab Emirates offices. In both these jurisdictions homosexuality is illegal.
The chair of A&Out, Ashley Young, who is based in Japan, told The Lawyer: "It's a challenging aspect. We make it clear that people can contact the A&Out committee if they need to. The question is how we extend the network into all the [geographical] areas we operate in a culturally sensitive way, where rules and regulations are different."
The international dimension was the crux of the latest meeting of LGBT law firm network Interlaw, which was hosted by A&O.
A&Out, which was founded last year, has a four-pronged strategy which includes providing support to its members, business development, an intended community aspect oriented towards ProBono work and socialising.
This month's Interlaw event was followed by an A&Out party - the group's largest-ever. The networking event for A&O staff, clients and Interlaw members had 250 guests in attendance.
The network chose the 28 May to get together as it was the 40th birthday of Australian pop star Kylie Minogue. "She's very popular across the LGBT networks," said Young. The singer was celebrated by a pianist playing some of her hits.
The oversubscribed event was dominated by gay men, but making sure that there is more representation of lesbian women in the network is another significant hurdle Young argued: "It may be that there are fewer lesbian women than gay men in law firms but I don't think so. It's about engagement."
Readers' comments (3)
Anonymous | 30-May-2008 3:48 pm
Illustration
An oddly cheery picture this, for a story about horrible regimes where being gay is illegal. And between that and the smiley you've got on the workplace happiness story, the site looks like a raver's forum. Aciiiiiiid!
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Anonymous | 30-May-2008 4:49 pm
The middle east
The sad fact is that the LGBT issue is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the objectionable aspects of middle eastern countries that international law firms do business in.
For most you could add the massive gap between the wealthy elite and the dirt poor populace; while for many you could also include the general racism, widespread abuse of domestic staff, widespread human rights abuses by the police, and a general oppression of women that hides behind an interpretation of Islam.
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JL | 30-May-2008 10:00 pm
Under-representation of lesbian women
I was at the event and I thank the A&Out organising team for making it a most enjoyable evening. There were indeed far more gay men there, and it is often the case that lesbian women are the minority at LGBT networking events.
The numbers, though small, were encouraging. The atmosphere was lively and the crowd very friendly.I hope that more women will be emboldened to attend the next event.
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