TY  - BOOK
AU  - Borja, Sofia Mariel E.
AU  - Dimaranan, Fatima Therese R.
AU  - Espinosa, Katrisse Ann G.
AU  - Ligsa, Mariel
AU  - Pudao, Evangeline
TI  - Breaking down barriers: Embracing realities in promoting gender inclusivity in the workplace 
KW  - LGBTQ employees
KW  - freedom
KW  -  gender discrimination
KW  - tourism enterprise
N1  - I. ABSTRACT

Creating a new body of human rights regulations or guidelines is unnecessary to protect
LGBTQ people from abuse and prejudice. The protection of LGBTQ individuals' human rights
is mandated by law (United Nations Human Rights, 2023). Thus, this study investigated the
LGBTQ experiences regarding the treatment they received as an employee in the tourism
enterprise. Members of the LGBTQ community who have worked for more than a year in a
particular tourism business are the participants of this study. A hermeneutic approach was used
in this study; the steps included wholistic reading, selective or highlighting approach, detailed
or line-by-line approach or coding, analyzing data by themes, and coming up with the explicit
structure of the meaning of the live experience or essence by Creswell & Poth (2018); van
Manen, (1990, 2016) was used in this study. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA)
aims to examine in depth how participants construct meanings about their social and personal
surroundings. Interview questions and a video recorder were used as an instrument for this
research. The interview was performed both face-to-face and online via google meet. A consent
form was emailed and provided to the participants informing them that all the information will
be kept confidential. In general, 7 out of 10 participants reported being happy and content with
their job and not experiencing discrimination at work. In contrast, the remaining three
individuals talked about their experiences with it, including being made fun of by calling them
unnecessary names, having guests who did not trust them, and being belittled by their coworkers. Thus, this study found that all establishments included in this study lack programs,
rules, and policies that could support and protect LGBTQ employees. To conclude, results
indicate that tourism enterprises can significantly contribute to making the workplace safer for
LGBTQ employees by implementing and promoting programs that could help these
individuals achieve the freedom they deserve
ER  -