Of companies and closets

I was alerted to this column in The Economist last week by my old web-log friend Jhames, and have been meaning to post it:

Of companies and closets: Being gay-friendly is cheap and good for business.

(I had a class last fall that more or less required a subscription to The Economist.  But I got an A- (bitter), so I don't really read it anymore - I give it to my landlords ever week.)

Anyway, being in a job search the article is pretty relevant to me right now.  Are CPA firms gay-friendly?  Pretty much, from what I can tell - that's never really been my issue.  The problem I put upon myself is trying to leverage being gay into a job.  Like trying to figure out how to affirmative action my way in.

My undergraduate degree was in Performing Arts (I know, right?) which I always joke "makes me fun around the office".  Accounting can be a tough field to stand out in because we all have the same skill set, the same credentials, and usually the same GPA.  I'd love to feel more comfortable with myself in my job search to drop some homosexual code of some sort, a wink-and-a-nod - but I don't know what that even would be.

So tomorrow I'm going to the Greater Boston Business Council's monthly networking lunch, because I'm pretty sure I need to learn some of these skills.

Here's my favorite quote from The Economist column linked above (aside from the Little Britain reference):

Being fair to gays is arguably simpler than being fair to women. Women really do differ from men in the amount of time, on average, that they take off to raise children. And there is no obvious answer to questions such as: “how much paid maternity leave should a small firm offer?” From an employer’s perspective, gays do not differ from straights in any way that matters.

It's kind of stunning, and pretty much undermines the whole equality argument. As much as I'd like to leverage my sexuality into a job, I don't think I could do it by stepping on a gender...