“The Glass Closet” by John Browne
John Browne was a gay man who was brought up in England in the 1950s. He stayed, as most of his generation carefully inside his closet and kept his secret well. At work, he was successful, rising through the ranks until he ended up CEO of BP and very much in the limelight.
In 2007, a young man with whom he had a long relationship decided to sell his story to a tabloid newspaper and Lord Browne very publicly resigned his position and the company for which he had worked so many years.
In this recent book, he explains the business case for a more accepting society. The case for an inclusive and welcoming society. He talks about the efforts made by many for the LGBT people of the world, including Harvey Milk, the drag queens of Stonewall, David Hockney and James Baldwin, all who were willing to come out very publicly.
The book is full of stories of all sorts. These include stories of people who were never able to succeed at work because of their efforts to hide their real lives, but also stories of success and openness. It questions how productive and efficient you can be at work when you may not talk about your family, your week-end, or when you have to be careful not to get offended by a distasteful joke, when you have to think carefully about what pronoun to use when referring to someone who is dear to you.
We may have marriage, but the battle for the acceptance and equality is not yet over. Maybe the next step needs to be won in the boardrooms or the world.
Strongly recommended to business people as well as to LGBT activists!
(Published by WH Allen, Ebury Publishing, Random House. ISBN 978-0-75-355532-3 www.glasscloset.org)
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