Society as a whole needs to step up

This week EG is focussing on LGBT inclusion in the real estate industry. Is enough being done to make everyone feel respected, rewarded and included in an industry that perhaps does not have the best track record on diversity? Over the course of this week, numerous professionals will share their stories, thoughts and advice on LGBT issues in property. Here Mark Capanda, senior surveyor at BNP Paribas Real Estate, tells his story. Being out at work allows me to embrace all aspects of my career and enables me to build the relationships I need to excel and succeed. LGBT diversity at work shows pride in my identity. I made the decision to come out at work in November 2014 when I was 26 years old, as I wanted to bring the “whole me” to my job, without limitation. This was only possible because I had come out in my personal life over the preceding 12 months, which when I look back is fairly late for my peer group. It was less nerve-wracking coming out at work, but I was nervous nonetheless not knowing how people within the property industry would react. My manager had a smile on my face when I told him. For me, it was a smile of acknowledgement that gave me comfort I had nothing to worry about. On the whole, my experience has been positive, but it is never as simple as coming out once, and that’s that. You come out again and again over the course of weeks, months and years – so many times you can’t keep track – not only to colleagues but to clients as well. It’s never ending. There are the default questions, like “do you have a girlfriend?”, but having come out long ago I’m not ready to go back. Once, I mentioned to another surveyor that I was going to Brazil for the Carnival and he commented on how good looking the girls in Brazil are. In that moment I had a choice to go along with what he was saying or reveal I was gay. So I replied “and so are the guys”. Other instances have not been so easy. Drunken comments at work events have not made it as plain sailing as I had hoped. However, I have always felt support from my friends and family, and also my employers. The hardest aspect for me is anticipating how prospective clients might react. I would not want my sexuality to lose an instruction, although I have been reassured by my managers that we would not want a client’s instruction if they reacted negatively. Maybe more explicit support, industry-wide, would encourage more LGBT members to embrace their identity. This falls in part to having more visible role models. I think the property industry has come a long way. However, I think some people still find it awkward to talk about sexuality. Not necessarily because they don’t like LGBT people, but because they may worry that we might not want to talk about it, or they may not know what to say. The decision to come out, at work or in your private life, starts with accepting who you are, which is in part down to how being LGBT is perceived in your social environment. So, events like Pride and groups like like Freehold, Stonewall and Diversity Role Models play essential roles in educating society. We should strive to be an industry where no one needs to come out. This cannot just be a property industry initiative. Society as a whole needs to step up.