City's gay prejudice that dare not speak its name

The only known lesbian on the board of a top City of London company blames business leaders today for the climate of fear that forces corporate gays to keep their sexuality secret.

Ashley Steel, from the accountancy giant KPMG, believes that gay people in the Square Mile are scared that their careers will be blighted if they are open about their orientation. She admitted having lied at work about a ring given by her long-term lover, pretending that it came from her grandmother, to conceal her lesbianism from her colleagues.

“There are going to be thousands and thousands of people who will leave work this evening, go home and feel that they have had an awkward day because they have not been able to be themselves,” Dr Steel, 48, said. “That cannot be right.”

“It’s about CEOs [chief executive officers], chairmen of the UK’s biggest companies. They can’t be silent on this. They actually have to take a very active role themselves. They have to be outspoken and they have to demonstrate to their people and to customers that they are very happy about working with gay people, that gay people are welcome in their organisations.

“What they can’t do is send a memo to their human resources department and say ‘Could you please put in a diversity programme?’. This is not something that chairmen and CEOs can delegate.”

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