LGBTQ+ Employees: Inclusion, Performance, and the Business Case

Read Chapter 11 with your PowerPoint slidesDownload PowerPoint slides open for note-taking — pay close attention to the data on LGBTQ+ workplace experiences, the legal landscape, and the organizational outcomes associated with inclusive versus non-inclusive policies

???? Watch: the Chapter 11 TED TalkLinks to an external site. (link in Chapter 11 Overview on Canvas)

As you watch the TED Talk, take notes on specific arguments, data points, or moments that connect to what you’re reading in the chapter. The strongest posts will draw on both resources — not just one.

Step 2: Write Your Initial Post

Your initial post has three required parts. Please make sure all three are present before submitting.

Part 1 – Discussion Prompt Response (250–350 words)

Research consistently shows that organizations with inclusive LGBTQ+ policies financially outperformcompetitors with less inclusive policies. This is a striking finding — and it raises an important question:

Why?

It would be easy to treat this as a simple correlation and move on. But the more interesting analytical challenge is to explain the mechanisms behind it — the specific ways that inclusive policies translate into better organizational outcomes.

Using Chapter 11, the TED Talk, your cumulative readings from the course, and your own workplace observations, build an evidence-based argument that addresses the following:

What specific organizational benefits — in areas such as talent acquisition, retention, innovation, team performance, or customer relations — might flow from inclusive LGBTQ+ policies? How do these connect to Cox and Blake’s business case for diversity from Chapter 1?

What are the costs — human, organizational, and financial — of exclusionary policies or cultures? What does the research suggest happens to employees who cannot bring their full selves to work?

Drawing on your own workplace experience(current or past), have you observed environments that were more or less inclusive? What did inclusion — or its absence — look like in practice, and what impact did it have on the people around you?

The TED Talk offers at least one perspective or argument that connects to this question — what was it, and how does it inform your analysis?

Take a clear position and support it with specific evidence from the chapter, the TED Talk, and at least one other course reading from earlier in the semester. Use APA format for all embedded citations.

Part 2 – Your Own Quote (quote + APA citation)

Find a quote from the Chapter 11 reading that resonates with you — something unrelated to the discussion prompt above. Include:

The quote — copied accurately, in quotation marks

APA citation — author, year, and page number

Part 3 – Your Response to the Quote (100–150 words)

Why did this quote stand out to you? What does it make you think about? What question does it raise for you or for the class?

Choose a quote that will open up a new thread of conversation — something that invites your classmates to think, respond, and engage rather than simply agree.

End your post with a complete APA References section for all sources cited, including the textbook and the TED Talk.

Not sure how to cite a TED Talk in APA? Here’s a quick guide:

Speaker Last Name, First Initial. (Year, Month). Title of talk [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/[specificLinks to an external site. url]

Step 3: Return and Respond to Your Peers Due: Sunday at midnight

After the Thursday posting deadline, return to the discussion board and respond to at least two classmates. This week’s prompt invites a wide range of responses — some students will approach it primarily through the business case lens, others through a human rights or ethical lens, and others through personal experience. That diversity of entry points makes for rich peer engagement.

For this week’s peer responses, seek out a classmate who approached the question from a different angle than you did — perhaps someone who emphasized a mechanism you didn’t focus on, or who drew on a workplace experience that contrasts with yours. Strong peer responses this week might:

Identify a connection between your classmate’s argument and a course concept from an earlier chapter — how does their analysis of LGBTQ+ inclusion connect to what we learned about race, gender, or implicit bias earlier in the semester?

Ask a follow-up question that pushes from organizational outcomes to managerial action — given what your classmate argued, what should a manager actually do?

Offer a real-world example — a company, policy, or news story — that supports, complicates, or extends your classmate’s argument

Respectfully challenge an assumption in their reasoning and explain why

Plan to visit the discussion board on three separate days:

Thursday — post your initial response

Friday or Saturday — find a classmate whose approach differs from yours and respond thoughtfully

Sunday — follow up on any questions directed to you and continue the dialogue