*Content warning: this story discusses experiences of LGBTQ sexual harassment and discrimination

When *Chloe first moved to Australia six years ago, she was excited about starting a new life.

The 25-year-old marketer had kept her sexuality mostly private, but was feeling great about starting a new job in a new country away from the expectations of family.

“I can be out, I can be my authentic self,” she says.

“So in the first workplace, it was me deciding that I was going to take ownership of this and kind of be open about it.”

But soon after coming out as bisexual at work, she was sexually harassed by a male manager.

“He found me on Linkedin and then messaged me directly, being like, ‘Oh, tell me more about this’,” says Chloe.

“And then it started to progress from just curiosity or, you know, like innocence to: ‘Wow, are you seeing someone?’; ‘Oh, I wish my girlfriend was like that and open to those things. Your partner is so lucky, etc’.”

The messages progressed to her manager sharing sexual fantasies.

Chloe is one of 1,000 LGBTQ people aged 24-30 who have shared their experiences in a world-first study looking at LGBTQ sexual harassment in the workplace.

While most research and policy discussions on workplace sexual harassment focus on cisgender heterosexual women, little is known about the experiences of LGBTQ young people.

The SpeakingOut@Work report, commissioned by Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS), has found that 77 per cent of LGBTQ young people have experienced sexual harassment at work.

Chief investigator Dr Cristyn Davies from the University of Sydney says the sexual harassment of young LGBTQ people at work is interconnected with experiences of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.

“Many LGBTQ young people were targeted for their gender or sexuality diversity in particular, and common forms of harassment included unwanted sexually suggestive or explicit comments, intrusive questions about identities, bodies and sex lives, and unwelcome sexual jokes about being LGBTQ,” she says.

The report also found that 30 per cent of young people who had experienced workplace sexual harassment reported comments about “correcting” LGBTQ identities through sexual assault.

Participants reported that most perpetrators were men who acted alone.

Young LGBTQ Australians anonymously shared their experiences of sexual harassment in the workplace

“A manager was stationed in the store where I work at for one day and found out I was a trans man … She proceeded to spend well over an hour asking me highly inappropriate questions such as what my genitals now look like due to the effects of HRT.”

(QUEER TRANS MAN, AGED 23)

“I was touched inappropriately and made to touch a male inappropriately when I was at a social/drinking event at a previous workplace. I was too drunk and scared to do anything about it at the time, but it makes me feel sick now.”

(LESBIAN CIS WOMAN, AGED 23)

“A senior team member that I had never met before pressured me to enter a long-distance relationship with him, made many unwanted sexual comments, a lot of unwanted physical contact, and a lot of pressure to go back to his house … While at his house he grabbed me and kissed me, I pushed him off and told him that I did not want that.”

(GAY CIS MAN, AGED 28)

“A senior colleague made repeated sexual comments and then eventually slapped my ass and groped me in front of all staff at a work event; everyone laughed.”

(BISEXUAL GENDER QUESTIONING PERSON, AGED 25)

Young LGBTQ Australians unlikely to report workplace sexual harassment

The study found that 75 per cent of LGBTQ young people chose to not report their experiences of workplace sexual harassment.

That was a major cause for concern for chief investigator Distinguished Professor Kerry Robinson from Western Sydney University, who specialises in LGBTQ health and well-being and anti-violence prevention.

“A lot of young people felt unsafe to go through the process of reporting. And sometimes the harasser was actually the person that you reported to,” Professor Robinson says.

“There were no other alternative pathways for young people to actually report the behaviour, which is highly problematic.”

For the small number of LGBTQ young people who did report being sexually harassed at work, the responses were, in many cases, inadequate and caused further harm to the young employee.

When Chloe reported the online sexual harassment she had been experiencing to another manager at her work, the company responded by banning employees from following each other on social media.

“They were kind of like, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s not appropriate’,” she says.

“But then it went offline and just started happening in the office when no-one else was around, like in the kitchen going to grab milk or whatever, things like that.

“There wasn’t even a conversation around what’s appropriate, or any kind of education around LGBT people in the workplace.”

Chloe ended up leaving the company at the end of her probation.

While workplace sexual harassment occurred across all sectors, LGBTQ young people’s experiences most commonly took place in accommodation and food services, followed by retail and admin roles.

“For a lot of young people, they felt like they really had to tolerate the behaviour and didn’t really have any choices, largely because young people are often employed in insecure and poorly paid jobs,” says Professor Robinson.

Marginalised groups are most vulnerable

Chief investigator Dr Davies says LGBTQ young people with more than one marginalised identity are more vulnerable to workplace sexual harassment, particularly those with a disability.

“Eighty-three per cent of young people with a disability reported experiencing workplace sexual harassment, and this was significantly higher than those without a disability,” she says.

Jae Charlton is a 25-year-old Commonwealth Games para-athlete who shared a confronting experience from a former workplace.

Jae, who identifies as queer and non-binary, was asked intrusive questions about their body and sexuality.

“I’ve got spina bifida, so my lower spine wasn’t formed properly at birth,” says Jae.

“The intersectionality of the harassment was being asked about my gender identity, but also being asked … ‘How much can you feel below the waist?’

“And I’m like, ‘Oh, cool, cool, cool. This is not good’.”

At the time, Jae was working in a small team and found the incident incredibly hard to report.

“It took a while and nothing came of it, so I quit,” says Jae.

While 80 per cent of those surveyed said sexual harassment at work had negatively affected their mental health, Jae is determined to prevent these experiences from happening to other young people.

Jae now works at the Accountable Futures Collective, a youth advocacy group that helps ensure organisations and institutions are more responsive to young people by co-designing policies and practices.

“There needs to be more awareness training and cultural training around what workplace safety would look like to protect people who are part of our community,” says Jae.

“It is really difficult for folks, particularly trans folks, to be able to report these kinds of things because they’re scared of getting more ridiculed, they’re scared of getting more harassment because you don’t know who is safe.

“Another thing that stops young people from reporting is having to face that trauma over and over again, because they can’t handle it. And they shouldn’t have to handle it.”

ANROWS CEO Dr Tessa Boyd-Caine says the research is a wake-up call that urgent action is required.

“It demands that governments, businesses, and educators overhaul systems to ensure LGBTQ young people are safe at work,” she says.

“From inclusive workplace policies to targeted anti-harassment campaigns and comprehensive training that goes beyond outdated, heteronormative approaches — these changes are not optional. They are essential.”

*Name has been changed for privacy