“Problems and Suggestions”: Non-Governmental Organisations of Sexual Orientation Minorities in the Context of Turkey and United Kingdom

Diversity And Diversity Management

Many organisations created equal opportunities policies due to the implementation of equality regulations, especially in the UK, and because of this they started to refer to themselves as “equal opportunities employers”. Equal opportunities amongst employers led to the promotion of different approaches, such as diversity management (Kandola & Fullerton, 1994) and mainstreaming (Rees, 1998) by equal opportunities professionals (Lawrence, 2000). The concepts of “diversity management” and “mainstreaming” have been used to link equal opportunity views in terms of establishing strategic organisational objectives. This bond created more awareness and helped others to recognise diversity as well as promoting a broad equal opportunities agenda for both older workers and sexual orientation minorities (LGBTs) (Lawrence, 2000).

The legal framework related to Equal Opportunity Approaches (EOA) emphasise the equal treatment of individuals irrespective of their sex or ethnic origin. The main logic behind this notion is to ensure that these factors may not be become a criterion for being promoted, rewarded, or appointed with respect to an individual’s occupation (Liff, 1997). However, even though organisations adopt the principles of equality, some cases indicate that members of one sex or ethnic group can still be indirectly discriminated against. Such unequal treatment can be legitimised if the criteria creating this difference can be indicated in a justifiable way on grounds different to that of sex or race (Liff, 1997).