Creating a safe space for us all

Thursday, May 27, 2021

Benjamin Meents
SVP, Corporate Marketing, Brand and Events at Optum

I am 4 years old, and I am playing in a sandbox with my doll in the back yard of our small St. Paul, Minnesota home. This is my safe space. Here I create worlds of incredible beauty, filled with a colorful cast of characters, friendly faces who meet me with their warm, inviting embrace.

I step out of the sandbox to discover my parents arguing. They are fighting about me. “Why can’t he just…?” My dad’s tone is harsh. “If only he would…”

I sense disappointment in his words. I am frightened by his tone. I wonder, “What am I doing wrong?”

Growing up as a gay kid, vivid memories like these shaped my childhood. Bullying in the neighborhood or at school was common. Most of the boys spent recess in the field organizing sports teams. I preferred to hang inside with the girls, where we would use our imaginations to create elaborate productions of the musical “Annie.”

Adult role models, whose attention and approval I sought often, suggested it would benefit me to “just try to act and behave a little more like the normal boys.” It wasn’t long before I no longer wondered, “What am I doing wrong?”

Instead, I had started to believe, “What I am is wrong.”

Across our LGBTQ community, each of us has a unique story of coming to terms with our own self-identity and learning how to relate to the world. For me, adversity only fueled my determination to excel. Still, when I entered the workforce, I was fearful of how I would be perceived.

Early in my career, companies I worked for lacked many of the benefits we enjoy today, such as non-discrimination policies, equitable benefits for LGBTQ workers and their families, and support for inclusive workplaces. It was hard to consider work a safe place. Instead, I and many like me, showed up for work afraid of ramifications to our careers if details of our lives outside work were discovered.

What a privilege it is now to work for a company that has again earned a perfect 100% rating as one of the best places to work for LGBTQ equality in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. To me, the rating is a symbol of the important work we do within the UnitedHealth Group family to empower the LGBTQ community throughout the year.

Today, I am proud to say without a doubt, I bring my whole self to work every day in an environment where I can thrive. I have been asking myself as a leader what more can I do to make this a safe and attractive place to work for everyone.

Every one of our stories is important to shaping our culture of inclusion. I invite you to ask yourself what more we could do together to advance justice and equality for workers of marginalized identities in the coming year and beyond.

When we are united in our commitment to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging for everyone, then each of us can do our life’s best work.