European Role Models
Across Europe, LGBTQIA+ professionals and allies are already driving change inside their organisations, often quietly and without recognition. Our Role Models programmes find them, celebrate them, and give them a European platform.
Because when someone sees a person like them thriving openly at work, the question stops being whether it is possible and starts being how soon.
Leading by example
Role Models are professionals who, on their own initiative, have advanced LGBTQIA+ inclusion where they work. They are nominated through national schemes run by our member organisations and recognised each year at our European ceremony. They come from every kind of workplace: multinationals, SMEs, public institutions and civil society. Together they form a growing community of visible leadership that colleagues, employers and policymakers can point to as evidence that inclusion works.
Key Objectives
- Make LGBTQIA+ leadership visible across every sector
- Bring national Role Model schemes to more countries
- Raise representation of underrepresented voices
Our Approach
- Developing policies that remove barriers to inclusion in the workplace.
- Providing training and resources to empower businesses and employees.
- Promoting sustainable and socially responsible business models.
The programe runs on a shared European methodology, adapted locally. Member organisations carry out their own national Role Model scheme, applying common criteria while reflecting their country’s legal and cultural context. Selected Role Models then join the European cohort, recognised at our annual Conference and Awards Ceremony.
For employers, the value is concrete. Role Models give companies a credible way to demonstrate that inclusion policies translate into lived experience, not just published commitments. They become internal reference points for employee networks, recruitment and leadership development.
For institutions, the programme provides something policy documents cannot: named individuals, across borders and sectors, whose experience shows where European legislation is working and where gaps remain.
Many Role Models go on to mentor the next generation through our mentoring programe, turning individual recognition into a lasting cycle of support across the network.
How We Drive Workplace Equality
European Role Models
Mentoring program
Firm Inclusion Awards
Advocacy
research
members
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