Four LGBTQ+ Employees Share Stories of Finding Freedom to Be Themselves at Work
Interviews
Bringing your whole self to work allows you “to be happy not just in your personal life but also in your professional life."
It can be as simple as sharing your weekend plans with coworkers or having a photo of your partner on your desk. When you feel free to be yourself at work, even the seemingly small things can have a big impact on your happiness and wellbeing.
Covering is emotionally draining. It can lead to poor performance at work, not to mention feelings of isolation and depression.
Four of our LGBTQ+ colleagues from around the world – in the
US, Colombia, Poland, and Japan – share their own experiences with the fear
and anxiety of covering who they are, and the joy of finding freedom at a
workplace that encourages them to be themselves.
Finding a support system at work
Tracy A. White
Executive customer representative, chronic care division,
Missouri
“I came out at MSD before I came out at home,” says Tracy
White, whose story starts in 2010, when she saw a video of then-MSD CEO Ken
Frazier talking about the importance of bringing your whole self to work.
“Watching that video had a powerful impact on me,” she says.
“I thought about the gifts that people were missing in me, and the gifts I was
missing in others, by not relaxing and being myself.”
Tracy started talking more openly about her partner,
Kristyn, with her coworkers. And a simple gesture from White’s manager
ultimately gave her the freedom to come out: “She said, ‘Thank you for sharing
Kristyn with me.’ That was her way of making it safe for me. And that’s when I
started crying and came out to her. That was a turning point for me to feel
more comfortable at work.”
After that, White came out to her siblings and parents. She
became a co-chair of the sales organization’s Rainbow Alliance chapter. And she
and Kristyn got married in 2013.
“When I came out at work, I embraced my job so much more,”
says White. “For me, coming out was just a beautiful gift I gave myself.”
Taking off the mask
Daniel Muriel
Specialist, clinical operations, medical writing, Colombia
Before joining the company in 2018, Daniel Muriel
worked as a flight attendant, a job that allowed him to explore cities
throughout South America and Europe. During his off hours, he immersed himself
in local LGBTQ+ culture – but on the job, things were different. “I wore a mask
the majority of the time,” Muriel says. “Because of the stigma that ‘all flight
attendants are gay,’ customers would put this label on you. So I would put the
mask on to earn respect from them.”
When Muriel left to pursue a different career, he decided to
seek out a company where he could be completely himself – and he found it at
our company. “I said, ‘I’m not going to put the mask on; I’m going to show them
who I really am.’ That was one of the biggest and most positive changes in my
life.”
Instead of deflecting questions about his personal life, as
he’d done in the past, he told his colleagues about his fiancé, and about their
plans to get married, buy a house and adopt a child. “Even my fiancé says,
‘Since you started working for MSD, you’re different. I know you’re happy, not
just in your personal life but in your professional life.’”
Leading by example
Thomas Johansson
Executive director, clinical research, Poland, Czech
Republic, Hungary, and Ukraine
In his 20+ years with the company, Thomas Johansson hid his sexual identity from a manager only once – only to discover later that the manager was an LGBTQ+ ally. “I was shocked, and I felt so stupid,” he says. “The lesson learned was, you should not cover up; the worst thing that can happen is someone doesn’t like you, and that can happen to anyone.”
Now in a leadership role himself, Johansson says he tries
“to be open as much as possible, to show that as a gay man you can have a
career. You don’t need to cover up to be successful at MSD.”
He acknowledges that the recent rise in conservatism and
anti-gay sentiment in Poland and across Eastern Europe has made it more
difficult to live openly. Indeed, more than 90 Polish municipalities have
declared themselves “LGBT-free zones,” although a small number of them have
repealed those declarations for fear of losing European Union funding for
violating E.U. law regarding nondiscrimination on grounds of sexual
orientation. Thomas observes, “It’s not as safe as it was in the past to speak
up in Poland.”
Thomas is working to make sure employees know that our
company is a safe space. In 2019, he helped organize the first Diversity and
Inclusion Day in Poland – and while none of the participants asked LGBTQ+-related
questions during the meeting, several people approached Johansson afterward.
“Some of them privately said, ‘thank you so much for your courage, thank you
for being visible.’”
And, in 2021, our company in Poland held its first LGBTQ+
awareness training for people managers, which was well attended and opened the
door to great dialogue. Johansson comments, “I was surprised in a positive way
of the engagement, openness and curiosity.”
Speaking up for change
Marie Sagi
Associate director, global market access, US
Before moving to her role in the US, Marie Sagi lived in
Japan, where same-sex marriage is not legal; however, she and her partner lived
in one of a growing number of municipalities that offer same-sex partnership
certificates. With the certificate in hand, Sagi applied for a “with spouse”
housing allowance through our HR department in 2018. Her application was
denied.
“At first, I felt helpless,” Sagi recalls. “But then I
thought, if I allowed the status quo to stand, how many others were going to
feel demoralized and isolated? So I decided to take action.”
Marie learned that our company didn’t offer benefits for
same-sex partners – in Japan, the issue had simply never come up. Although
same-sex partnership certificates had been introduced in Japan just a few years
earlier, in 2015, being openly gay in Japan is still largely taboo. Sagi
was the first employee to bring the issue to the company’s attention.
One week later, she began working with HR to advance LGBTQ+ inclusion – and as a result, our company became one of the first in Japan to provide full
benefits to same-sex partners.
For Sagi, that was just the first step. Her mission is to
help LGBTQ+ employees feel comfortable coming out at work if they want
to. In 2019, she established the first Rainbow Alliance chapter in Japan, and
she’s continuing to work with HR to increase LGBTQ+ awareness and support.
“I’ve been the only one working on this for a long time,” she says, “but last November, two colleagues said, ‘We are LGBT also,’ and they joined the Rainbow Alliance chapter. One of them told me he joined our company because we have this [same-sex partner program]. I’m so happy he said that, because we worked so hard. I hope more people will join us.”
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