Fabrice Houdart: LGBTQ Equality & Corporate Responsibility

In this episode host, Dennis Velco chats with Fabrice Houdart about LGBTQ equality and corporate responsibility. Fabrice has had a fascinating career championing for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer rights and equality. Currently, he is the Managing Director, Global Equality Initiatives at Out Leadership.

Fabrice Houdart was previously Human Rights Officer at the United Nations in New York, and for the past four years, he worked on Free & Equal, an unprecedented United Nations campaign for LGBTI equality. He co-authored and led the United Nations Global LGBTI standards of conduct for Business, the largest corporate social responsibility initiative on LGBTI issues in the World. To date, more than 270 of the largest companies in the world have expressed support for the initiative. From 2001 – 2016, Fabrice was Senior Country Officer at the World Bank. At the Bank, he authored economic development analyses on Yemen, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Tunisia and provided contributions to the 2012 Gender World Development Report (WDR) and the 2011 Conflict, Security, and Development WDR. He holds a B.A. in economics and management from Dauphine University in Paris and an MBA from American University in DC. Fabrice volunteers on the Board of Outright Action International, Housing Works, the NYC Gay Men’s Chorus, Alturi, the KindRED Pride Foundation, Witness to Mass Incarceration, and the Institute of Current World Affairs (ICWA). In 2019, he received the Golden Gate Business Association Award, the IGLTA Pioneer Award, and the Alan Turing LGTBIQ Award for his work on LGBTI rights. He was ranked 2nd by Yahoo Finance among LGBTI public sector executives globally in their 2019 Outstanding list. He was interviewed by The Economist, quoted in the New York Times, Foreign Policy Magazine, and The Guardian on issues pertaining to the human rights of LGBTIQ people. He lives in New York City with twin sons 6-year old Maxime and Eitan.

Connect with Fabrice on OutBüro https://www.outburo.com/profile/fabricehoudart/

• 01:00 Fabrice Houdart’s introduction – exploration at the World Bank how LGBTQ rights impact the economic development of businesses and the economies of countries
• 02:45 Joins the Office of High Commissioner on Human Rights at the United Nations in 2016
• 00:30 Describes how he works toward helping corporations to understand LGBTQ rights
• 06:30 Explains how children suffer by not being able to be themselves with family and at school
• 11:00 Corporations and employers have a rare opportunity to have a positive impact on society
• 14:00 Only around 17,000 persons in the US gives more than $1,000 a year to support LGBTQ non-profits
• 16:00 LGBTQ rights are the “canary in the coal mine” for broader human rights issues
• 17:00 How the employees/public/consumers/investors play a role in influencing employers/companies
• 18:00 The current struggle between conscience social responsibility versus only focused on profit over all else
• 23:00 The complexity of companies can be confusing where they can be leaders in one area while in other areas seem quite opposite.
• 26:15 Examples
• 27:00 The LGBTQ equality footprint is Pro-LGBTQ support minus anti-LGBT support.
• 29:30 OutBuro LGBTQ employer ratings have the potential to be an impact for good where all win
• 30:15 Boycotts have little impact I immediately, but can have a significant impact over time affecting the growth
• 33:00 Using your power to affect change
• 36:00 Having a lot of LGBTQ employees is not a direct indication of the employer’s LGBTQ equality
• 37:30 LGBTQ in management and at the board level. In the US total of 5670 Fortune board seats. Of those only 24 out LGBTQ persons and a few are overlapping by the same people.
• 39:45 Must be careful to not allow LGBTQ equality to mask other social responsibility issues
• 42:00 As LGBTQ is our responsibility to leverage our strength to affect positive change supporting everyone and our environment.

Join Martin on OutBüro, the LGBTQ professional and entrepreneur online community network for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, a.lies and our employers who support LGBTQ welcoming workplace equality focused benefits, policies, and business practices. https://www.OutBuro.com

Would you like to be featured like this? Contact the host Dennis Velco. https://www.outburo.com/profile/dennisvelco/

About the author: Dennis Velco

An LGBTQ social entrepreneur who focuses on strengthening the global LGBTQ+ through connecting, engaging, online, and in person.