Montreal-based non-profit QueerTech is hosting a Canada-wide virtual career fair designed to connect LGBTQ+ tech workers with employers that will encourage them to “thrive as openly queer individuals,” the organization says in a statement.

The free event will be held Thursday, April 8 from 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. EST, using the Brella.io platform.

Organizers hope to host more than 1,000 participants from the LGBTQ+ community, and registration is now open.

LGBTQ+ REPRESENTATION IN TECH

LGBTQ+ workers continue to be underrepresented in tech, as evidenced by a 2017 poll conducted by Stack Overflow. The survey, which included responses from more than 42,000 participants, found more than 92 per cent identified as heterosexual. That same year the Kapor Center released a study identifying bullying as a big reason LGBTQ+ workers leave the industry.

The Kapor poll, which surveyed more than 2,000 employees who voluntarily left a tech-related position between 2014 and 2017, found LGBTQ+ employees were the most likely demographic to be bullied at 20 per cent, and the most likely group to experience public humiliation at 24 per cent.

About 64 per cent of LGBTQ+ respondents said bullying influenced their decision to leave their company.

The report concedes that work experiences differ dramatically depending on an individual’s intersecting identities but the sample used is overwhelmingly male, white, and heterosexual (63 per cent, 73 per cent, and 91 percent, respectively). Sadly, that demographic breakdown is fairly standard for the North American tech industry, which continues to be plagued by bias and a lack of diversity.