Reuters employees asked about sexual orientation

Reuters employees are miffed that the company has asked for their sexual preferences, according to a posting on the Newspaper Guild of New York’s site.

The site states, “Many Guild members were shocked. Told to choose between identifying themselves as ‘bisexual; heterosexual/straight; homosexual/gay; homosexual/lesbian; or transgender,’ most opted for the last choice, ‘prefer not to say,’ as a matter of principle. Some were so offended they chose not to fill out the survey at all, even if it was supposedly anonymous.

“But the question remains, why ask? Why ask employees to divulge something that’s irrelevant to their work, none of the company’s business and can become a ticking time bomb for discrimination in the future?

“The question was particularly jarring in light of an e-mail sent to all staff from CEO Tom Glocer (the same guy who’s against income inequity, except when it comes to cutting Guild members’ compensation). On October 11, Glocer urged TR employees to ‘speak out against prejudice and discrimination’ after recent anti-gay violence in New York, New Jersey and Belgrade.”

Read more here.