The exits of the two men, who both identify as gay, will also mark a dispiriting step backward for LGBTQ+ representation in the C‑suite. After September, there will be only one out LGBTQ+ chief executive left in the Fortune 500: Land O’ Lakes’ Beth Ford. It’s a reminder of how the highest echelons of corporate America remain largely straight, white, and male—and how difficult it is to maintain gains in representation.
So what gives? For one thing, the number of LGBTQ+ chief executives is almost certainly an undercount, given that people sometimes stay in the closet—mum about their sexual or gender orientation. (Cook only came out in 2014, three years after taking the reins.)
Pointing to tech executives, who tend to skew young (Altman is 41, making him a millennial), Sears says the number of openly LGBTQ+ executives is bound to increase.
But he and other LGBTQ+ advocates also say that the current political climate, with its backlash to gay rights progress, is playing a role. It’s not surprising if current or aspiring LGBTQ+ executives decide to downplay that aspect of their lives to avoid getting pulled into the culture wars or into fights over diversity and inclusion efforts, he says. Indeed, in the last three years, countless companies have backed off of DEI initiatives, to avoid punishment from the Trump administration or under pressure from conservative activists.
Spears says there’s some evidence that LGBTQ+ employees are feeling less safe being open about their identities at work.”We are seeing that some young employees are going back in the closet, employee resource groups are being dismantled, and the progress from inclusion is at risk of disappearing,” he says.
