Diversity at the LSE Economics Department

I have never found the LSE a very inclusive university and more an organisation that adopts commercial pinkwashing and thinks very highly of itself if it just states that inclusion is important. In the words of an economics student:

"the kindness of a few people is not a substitute for a proactively inclusive culture, which I do not think LSE has."

Over the years, I have compared notes with queer friends in others departments and it has always been clear that law and economics departments have been less inclusive than other university departments. And those two departments are a big part of the LSE. In my own department, LGBTQ+ members tend to remain in the closet at work. The following quote from a 2022!!! course satisfaction survey (for one of mine) says it all.

    "It may not be part of a formal evaluation, but LSE econ is really not the most diverse place. I never expected that this would have such an impact on me, but seeing someone 'like me' teaching at LSE actually meant a lot to me." On the one hand, it was nice to read this because I felt appreciated. On the other hand, it makes me feel that we haven't made enough progress.

And here is another one.

    "When I was looking up the timings of your office hours, I came across your website. The first thing that I saw was your statement on LSE leaving Stonewall, so I would really like to thank you for speaking up about this. I then went on to read the 'Being Queer' section, much of which resonated with me as a queer student. There is definitely a lack of queer representation within LSE Economics, as well as within economics in general, so I really appreciate you using your platform to talk about your experiences and important topics regarding the LGBTQ+ community!"

And another touching touching one.

    "... You are the first teacher that I met who came out publicly as gay man. I looked at your personal website, and found you did not hide it at all. For me, I identified myself as gay man since my primary school. But in my hometown back in China, a gay would not be accepted at all. So I was deep in the closet, and I did not know any other gay men around me until I started to use gay app in college. ... But you are so great as gay man, you came out so early when the western world was as conservative as the current China society. You are so dedicated to your career. I never saw a professor who care about the study of his students as you. I can see that you really want to make sure your students do good in your course, and everyone respect you for this. You really really give me courage in the sense that if I work hard in my field, and I will be respected for my achievements. I was always so afraid of living on my own for the rest of my life. But now I think if I can have a career that I devote to, I will not be lonely and I will be respected. " complete message

I also got some rewarding responses from those who are not part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Here is an example.

    "I see your bravery by browsing your webpage and reading your stories, which inspires me to embrace courage. Being heterosexual, I get to know more about LGBTQ+ community from your webpage. And I think I can understand the feelings of being discriminated, given my Chinese face even in cities like ... and London. ... I very much get moved by the song "Something Inside So Strong". ... I do hope I could be more courageous like you in my life. Your webpage is really valuable. I think my hope and courage for the unsettled future, my passion&love for education, greatly originate from educators like you. Thank you for being such a great educator. This means a lot to me." a bit more from this message

I have always found it symbolic that literally every year during Pride month, the Pride flag above the Economics Department starts dropping quickly after it has been raised and then sort of hangs half-mast for the rest of the month. I am still hoping that one year, a cis-hetero colleague also sees this and makes sure that the flag will be flying at the top of the mast.