Celebrating the Visibility of LGBTQ+ Designers at Gensler

At least in comparison to other professions, the design industry is heralded as a welcoming space for the LGBTQ+ community. In fact, the woman often credited with the modern conception of interior design, Elsie de Wolfe (1865-1950), was gay. Yet, perhaps because queerness isn’t a trait visible to the naked eye, the community isn’t as visible in design research and initiatives about equity, diversity, and inclusion. The visibility of LGBTQ+ women, in particular, is lacking, even though in a recent study by Gallup, 5.1% of women identify as LGBTQ+, compared with 3.9% of men. That evens out to 4.5% of the general population, while, according to the 2017 AIGA Design Census, 11.7% of designers identified as LGBTQ+ and another 8.6% preferred not to say. If the queer community is overrepresented in design, where are the contemporary A&D workplace studies to support them? Yes, we still…