Out & Equal to Join Latin America’s Leading LGBT Conference Event

Founding Executive Director of Out & Equal is to deliver a Gala Dinner keynote presentation during the 2nd International Expo & Business LGBT in Cancun, Mexico.

WEBWIRE – Tuesday, August 14, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SAN FRANCISCO, USA (OUTNOW) -- AUGUST 14, 2012 - The 2nd International Expo & Business LGBT event being hosted by LGBT Confex has announced its latest partner - the leading North American workplace equality advocacy organization, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates.

LGBT Confex www.lgbtconfex.com is Latin America’s leading organizer of LGBT conferences and events, and CEO Ruben Sandoval said he was delighted to announce Out & Equal’s participation in the 2nd International Expo & Business LGBT event being put on by his company in Cancun, Mexico on September 6th to 9th.

“We are working very hard to bring LGBT issues to the consciousness of more organizations in our region,” Sandoval said. "To do this we are taking a holistic approach - and we focus on LGBT people’s lives as workers, as consumers and as members of their families. The leadership role that Out & Equal has taken in the area of workplace equality is inspiring. We are pleased to welcome the Founding Executive Director of Out & Equal, Selisse Berry, to present a special keynote address during the Gala Dinner at the new Hard Rock Hotel Cancun”.

“Out & Equal is pleased to be participating in this event,” Berry said. “Our work started in the United States and has expanded globally in recent years. We recently hosted the Out & Equal LGBT Global Workplace Summit in London with constituents from 28 countries. LGBT employees everywhere face complex and diverse issues that relate to their sexual orientation and gender identity. Something as basic as an invitation to a work function takes on a whole different hue if a person is not out about their sexual orientation with everyone they work with. This can cause real issues, and we see workplace equality as an area where there is still much to be done in Mexico, and across Latin America. Participating in this event is an important step for us, and we are looking forward to sharing our experience with the delegates attending the conference”.

For 13 years, Out & Equal www.outandequal.org has been at the forefront of recognizing the workplace rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and working with corporations to bring about real improvements in the workplace as a result.

New research being released at the conference shows that real issues surrounding sexual orientation and gender identity and characteristics in the workplace exist in all countries in Latin America, including Mexico.

The LGBT2020 Study www.lgbt2020.com is a global research project devised and implemented by Out Now Global www.outnowconsulting.com - the world’s leading specialist LGBT consulting agency. Since 2009, the project has been collecting data from countries around the world, to compare LGBT people’s lives; asking the same set of questions in more than a dozen languages. Almost 100,000 people have now participated in more than 20 countries.

According to Darren Cooper, Senior Consultant at Out Now, many LGBT people currently experience harassment and discrimination, including in the workplace, in Mexico and across the Latin American region.

Full LGBT2020 data results for Mexico and other key Latin American markets, including Argentina and Brazil, are to be released by Out Now at the 2nd International Expo & Business LGBT to be held in Cancun, Mexico. www.mexicoexpolgbt.com

“There are millions of LGBT people living in Latin America, and most of them have experienced harassment or other difficulties related to their sexual orientation in some form or other during this year,” Cooper said. “For example our latest research shows that only 26% of people in Mexico feel comfortable coming out to everyone they know at work. To conceal such an important aspect of oneself from work colleagues wastes a large amount of time and effort, and tends to risk marginalizing LGBT people to the detriment of workplace teams. It is far better when workplaces offer respect and acceptance for LGBT colleagues so that all workers can be themselves and function to their maximum effectiveness as a team”.

The 2nd International Expo & Business LGBT is being held at the Convention Center of Hard Rock Hotel Cancun, September 6-9, 2012. The Gala Dinner is being held at the Hard Rock Hotel Cancun on September 8, 2012. Hyatt Hotel Cancun is another official Partner Hotel for the Expo & Business LGBT, an event which is created and managed by LGBT Confex, Latin America’s leading LGBT conference and Exhibitions Company.

ABOUT OUT & EQUAL:
Founded by Executive Director Selisse Berry, Out & Equal Workplace Advocates (commonly known as “Out & Equal”) is a national 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California. Out & Equal is committed to ending employment discrimination for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender employees. Out & Equal believes that people should be judged by the work they do, not by their sexual orientation or gender identity.

For more than 13 years, Out & Equal has been working with organizations to create places of employment whose cultures embrace the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees and those who support them.

Out & Equal mobilizes tens of thousands of professional staff, managers and executives in Out & Equal Regional Affiliate Networks and their Employee Resource Group Registry. Through LGBTCareerLink, an online job search and career development portal, Out & Equal serves diversity-friendly employers and LGBT job seekers. Out & Equal has earned the trust and respect of LGBT employees and employers for producing the best attended, most informative and inspiring summit on LBGT workplace issues held annually in a selected city in the USA. The 2012 Workplace Summit will be held in Baltimore, Maryland on October 29-Nov 1. More information is available online at www.OutandEqual.org.

ABOUT LGBT CONFEX:
Latin America’s leading LGBT conferences and Exhibitions Company is LGBT Confex. www.lgbtconfex.com

Established in 2011, the organization quickly demonstrated its capabilities to put together a professional team with staff who bring many years in event management expertise. Following the successful event 2011 International Expo & Business LGBT, LGBT Confex immediately set about arranging the groundwork for this year’s even bigger event in Cancun www.mexicoexpolgbt.com . Plans have commenced for two events by the organization in 2013 – another in Mexico and one elsewhere in the Latin America region.

ABOUT OUT NOW:
The world’s premier LGBT marketing organization is Out Now. www.outnowconsulting.com

Established in 1992 in Australia, Out Now has grown to reach more than 20 markets worldwide. Its work covers strategy, communications and training as well as managing the world’s largest and most extensive LGBT market research program, LGBT2020. http://www.outnowconsulting.com/lgbt2020 Many of the world’s leading brands including IBM, Volvo, Toyota, Citibank, Barclays Bank, Time Inc Magazines, Doubleday Books, Hilton Hotels and German National Tourist Office rely on the specialist LGBT insights of Out Now.

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