--- title: HR Departments Are Now Asking Workers If They’re Gay description: A growing number of corporations are adding sexual orientation to the demographic data they collect about their workers. canonical: https://time.com/4250944/companies-asking-gay-lgbt-interviews-diversity/ author: Victor Luckerson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-08T15:42:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:42:43.953Z article:section: Business og:title: HR Departments Are Now Asking Workers About Their Sexual Orientation og:description: The question is optional but corporations see value in it og:url: https://time.com/4250944/companies-asking-gay-lgbt-interviews-diversity/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: HR Departments Are Now Asking Workers About Their Sexual Orientation twitter:description: The question is optional but corporations see value in it twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # HR Departments Are Now Asking Workers About Their Sexual Orientation by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Mar 8, 2016 3:42 PM CUT by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Mar 8, 2016 3:42 PM CUT A growing number of corporations are adding sexual orientation to the demographic data they collect about their workers. Companies ranging from JPMorgan Chase to Facebook to AT&T now ask workers about their sexual orientation or gender identity, _Bloomberg_ [reports](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-08/straight-or-gay-your-boss-wants-to-know-but-don-t-worry "undefined"). The questions are typically optional, but organizations say the data can help them develop appropriate benefit plans and boost office diversity. Still, there are concerns. Some businesses have decided not to collect the data for fear that an employee might be outed if the data was stolen or released by a disgruntled worker. Workers who travel abroad could face issues too, as homosexuality is still a crime in many countries. Meanwhile, religious freedom laws in some U.S. states could limit access to certain services for members of the LGBT community. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4250944/companies-asking-gay-lgbt-interviews-diversity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4250944/companies-asking-gay-lgbt-interviews-diversity/"},"headline":"HR Departments Are Now Asking Workers About Their Sexual Orientation","datePublished":"2016-03-08T15:42:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:42:43.953Z","description":"The question is optional but corporations see value in it","url":"https://time.com/4250944/companies-asking-gay-lgbt-interviews-diversity/","keywords":["human resources","Demographics","LGBT","gay","office"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/human-resources/","name":"human resources"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4250944/companies-asking-gay-lgbt-interviews-diversity/","name":"HR Departments Are Now Asking Workers About Their Sexual Orientation"}}]}] ```