Dive Brief:

• Over the past five years, more companies have posted themselves as equal employment opportunity (EEO) employers by acknowledging LGBTQ applicants in their job ads, data from Burning Glass Technologies found. The data showed that more postings used "gender identity" and "sexual orientation" as terms in their EEO statements.
• In the first half of 2019, more about one-third of U.S. job postings had some type of EEO statement, the data found. Nearly 20% used "sexual orientation" and 17% included "gender identity." The increase in job postings including "sexual orientation" rose from 588,962 in 2013 to 5.1 million postings in 2018 — a 766% increase. The increase in use of "gender identity" on EEO statements was even greater over this period, Burning Glass Technologies found.
• According to the data, 31.2% of job postings used general EEO language in 2018, compared to 21.5% in 2013, which Burning Glass Technologies said means that the increase in the use of LGBTQ-oriented terms grew faster than the increase in general EEO language.

Dive Insight:

Burning Glass Technologies points out that EEO statements are best practices, and not always mandated depending on company size. But many employers have taken seriously the call by employment lawyers to make inclusive statements even outside any official laws in order to create more inclusive and diverse workspaces.

Meanwhile, debate continues over whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 officially protects workers in the LGBTQ community. The federal government is even split on the matter; the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC's) position is that the federal law does protect them, while the U.S. Department of Justice argues the opposite. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet settled the debate with a final ruling, it has accepted three LGBTQ-related cases to review due in part to a circuit court split on the matter. And in the legislative branch, the Equality Act, which would extend protections of Title VII to LGBTQ workers, currently sits in the Judiciary Committee in the Republican-controlled Senate after meeting approval by the House.

Policy is not enough, however. Curtis Sparrer, principal at Bospar PR, suggested that companies install LGBTQ advisory boards to ensure constant dialogue with management and hold education sessions on language that may exclude others.