Despite OUBC's growth in recent years, there is still a lot of work to be done! 

A recent study showed that nearly half of college-educated lesbians and gays still hide their sexual orientation at work and nearly a third live "double lives," in the closet at the office but completely open about their sexuality outside of work.  Obviously, there is massive opportunity to get more LGBT individuals to come out of the closet.  With half of LGBT individuals remaining in the closet, it's likely that stereotypes non-LGBT individuals have about the LGBT community are being perpetuated.  Nothing helps to educate and dispel stereotypes about LGBT individuals than meeting and working closely with an LGBT individual.  But most worrying, according to the study, gays and lesbians who "keep their true sexual identity under wraps while at work are more likely to report job-related stress and isolation than their peers, and are also more likely to want to leave their current jobs."  Staying in the closet hurts the broader LGBT community and its fight for equality but also hurts one's ability to succeed and be happy at work.

There are millions of LGBT individuals in America's professional ranks.  Our conference can only touch the lives of a few hundred.  It's important to realize that change starts at the top and change starts with the next generation.  Hopefully, we can continue to affect the corporate cultures at some of the nation's leading companies so that their employees don't feel the need to be closeted at the office.  And hopefully, we can do so by affecting the next generation of these companies' leaders.  We still have a long way to go!

Check out the article here.