A survey has revealed alarming levels of homophobia in Northern Irish workplaces.
A report by gay group the Rainbow Project found that more than a quarter of gay people in Northern Ireland have complained about anti-gay harassment at work.
The highest rate of derogatory comments about LGBT people was found to be in private businesses, in which 42.5% of gay workers reported incidents.
Around 70% of those who took part in the survey were not satisfied with how their complaints of homophobia were dealt with.
Rainbow Project equality officer and report author Matthew McDermott said that the survey was the first study of its kind in Northern Ireland and that it was intended to give the government and employers an idea of how they can, “improve working life for all LGB people”.
McDermott commented that extracts in survey participants’ own words, which appear throughout the report, “help tell the story of what same-sex attracted people face in work and what they feel they must accept as ‘normal’”.
Rainbow Project director John O’Doherty said, in regards to making working life for gay people better, “Government, employers and the Rainbow project have considerable work to do”.
