#TeamGuidant celebrates Pride Month: Daibhid’s story

By Daibhid MacCann, Senior Marketing Executive

​To celebrate Pride Month 2021, #TeamGuidant’s Senior Marketing Executive, Daibhid MacCann, shares with us his experience on being a member of the LGBTQ+ community and navigating the world of work.

Learning how to ‘be myself’ at work.
Back in 2002, when I started my very first job in retail, Section 28, a British law that prohibited the promotion of homosexuality, was still firmly in place in England and Wales (in fact, it would remain in place for a further year).

Having come from a school environment in rural Northern Ireland where no one had so much as breathed the word 'gay' as anything beyond a pointed slur, it wasn't obvious to what extent I should 'be myself' at work.

I knew I was gay around the age of 16.
However, living in Northern Ireland and attending an all-boys Catholic grammar school in the mid-90s meant it wasn’t something I was comfortable with or even something I knew how to process. Bear in mind that at this point in history, there weren’t any positive role models or blueprints for me to follow.

The celebrities in the public eye at the time were either flamboyant figures of fun and subsequent ridicule or being highlighted as examples of moral depravity. This combined with the Section 28 legislation made my teenage years at school a very confusing and quite lonely time. It wasn’t until I went to Liverpool for university in 2001 that I really felt able to explore and process my sexuality, let alone embrace it.

‘Is it OK to be gay here?’
Those feelings of doubt and insecurity would stay with me for much of my 20s, and any time I started a new job I'd ask myself the same old question, 'is it OK to be gay here?' Although I was fortunate not to be met with any negativity during any period of employment, I would say that there were times I felt, at best, tolerated rather than celebrated.

Even in places where the culture tended to be more open, I sometimes felt like a token – and people’s interest in my sexuality would border on the invasive. The kind of things I’ve been asked by former colleagues who I’m sure, in their own minds, felt they were being very forward-thinking, in reality made me feel uncomfortable.

The last decade has rung in some much-needed change. Companies seem, at last, to be celebrating their LGBTQ+ employees rather than treating us as a 'quota'. This isn't the reality for everyone, of course, and for many, the issue of whether they can be 'out' at work persists.

Authenticity is key.
We have seen companies exploit their LGBTQ+ employee metrics by way of demonstrating some loose commitment to the community for the sake of it. Unfortunately, such activities are hollow and will be met with derision by LGBTQ+ people.

That’s why I’m proud to work for Guidant – a company that not only accepts openly gay people as part of the workforce, but actively celebrates our diversity and the unique perspectives we can bring to the table. I’ve been part of the LGBTQ+ ambassador group since I started my time at Guidant in 2018, and it’s the first time I’ve been actively involved in something where I truly feel like I have control over the narrative.

I only feel like I can truly bring my authentic self to work each day, when the company I work for is willing to demonstrate the same commitment to being transparent and open.

LGBTQ+ people don’t need to work for LGBTQ+ companies, we just need to work for companies that welcome and embrace us without any ulterior motives.

Join a team that embraces diversity, equality and inclusion through and through. Browse our latest opportunities today >