The recent Supreme Court Decisions overturning DOMA and Prop 8 have far-reaching impact  diversity and inclusion in the workplace beyond providing federal and state benefits for same-sex married couples. These decisions also affect single LGBT and heterosexual people in those workplaces, along with LGBT  employees in states where same-sex marriage is not yet legal.

In the past month, I’ve gotten calls and emails from employers, and diversity managers asking for my opinion and advice on education, clarification and notification of LGBT and other employees about benefits, legal rights etc.

My expertise is not in the legal terminology. My expertise is in diversity management and organizational culture change from the people and business  perspective.

In this post,  I share a few of my responses and extend an invitation to give me a call or  send  an email if you have any questions or want more information.

 Same-sex couples in states where their marriage is legal will receive state and federal benefits that include non-taxable health insurance, relocation, social security, old-age and death benefits along with every other benefit that married couples receive.  Couples that were married in one of those states but move to a state where same-sex marriage is not legal may still receive federal benefits depending on state law.

 It also means that the marriages of transgender people who transitioned after marriage will no longer be able to be annulled.

    That means that employers  in every state should prepare  and know laws, benefits and protections for all married couples, in order to avoid confusion later.

This will result in higher productivity and more participation by LGBT employees.  There is a psychic toll,  of feeling like you have to hide who you are that can be draining, and interfere with full participation. It will be easier to share resources when someone no longer feels that they have to keep a wide distance from people with whom they work.

The reality is that we’re not. Whether or not your state has legalized gay marriage, homophobia still exists. Employees need to be educated, and those that are uncomfortable need to learn how to be comfortable and accept others.

There may be a homophobic backlash with some employees making homophobic jokes or bullying LGBT employees.

This means you need to be clear about appropriate and inappropriate behavior, and have a process in place to openly, visibly, and vocally support LGBT employees, and  set limits.  You will also need an effective way to  educate employees rather than fire those who may be good people but act out conscious and unconscious bias.

• Work with your LGBT ERG and/or an outside facilitator to educate the employees in three areas:

a-   Laws, policies and benefits

• Let all employees know that you are a safe person to speak with. You  have to  be a role model. Culture and behavior starts at the top

• Speak up when you hear homophobic remarks and teach other people to do so- educate people on the effects of allowing hate speech and jokes

•  Understand that it is not always up to the LGBT person to have to be the one to speak up- they may be intimidated. Don’t assume that because they don’t speak up when they hear a homophobic joke, that it doesn’t matter.

• “Take a gay to lunch”  Invite  leaders of the LGBT ERG or someone in your organization you know is LGBT to lunch. Let them know you want to be supportive but don’t always know how. Ask for their help and  permission to ask any questions you may have.

And finally, I predict that same-sex marriage will make the institution of marriage stronger, because not only will  LGBT people take their commitment to marriage seriously, it may inspire non-LGBT people living in domestic partnerships to get married so they can have the same benefits.