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Gay women working in the City of London’s financial services sector are three times more likely than male counterparts to keep quiet about their sexuality, according to a survey published on Tuesday. The study by recruitment firm The Blomfield Group found the City of London had made progress in terms of diversity, but remained a challenging place to work for gay people. "The reluctance of women to come out as lesbians possibly reflects the fact that women already feel they have to fight hard to maintain equality with men," said Keith Robinson, managing director at Origin HR, part of the Blomfield Group. The survey revealed an increase in the number of financial services employees who identified themselves as gay. But in the survey women were three times more likely than men not to disclose their sexuality.
    The City of London still has a reputation as a macho environment dominated by heterosexual white males. But investment banks are trying to change the City’s culture after a string of discrimination lawsuits in the United States and now in Britain. They also fear losing out if they cannot attract the most talented recruits regardless of race, sex or sexuality. The banks themselves operate gay and women’s networks and try to promote diversity in recruitment programs. There are also industry-wide  networks such as Out in the City, the Interbank Gay & Lesbian Network, and City Pink, as well as women’s networks such as the City Women’s Club. Three of the top 10 organizations in gay tights lobby group Stonewall’s Corporate Equality Index are now investment banks. A series of high-profile discrimination lawsuits in the City of London have highlighted that there is still work to do. Peter Lewis, a former top banker at HSBC Holdings, is currently seeking to appeal an employment tribunal ruling that he was not sacked from his job because he was gay. Lewis had sued HSBC for about 5 million pounds (＄9.3 million), claiming he was dismissed because of his homosexuality. He lost his lawsuit against the bank in May, when the tribunal rejected his claim of unfair dismissal based on sexual orientation. The tribunal did, however, uphold four out of 16 claims that Lewis made against the bank. HSBC is itself seeking leave to appeal against these four. Claire Bright, a senior executive at HBOS Plc, filed an 11 million pound sex discrimination claim against the UK bank last year. HBOS said that in the event of a tribunal hearing it would vigorously defend its position and that an internal investigation had not upheld Bight’s allegation. The Blomfield survey of 20,392 candidates for City roles found that 6.3 percent identified themselves as gay, up from 5.9 percent two years ago. This percentage represents about 55,000 out of the 900,000 or so people working in banking, finance and insurance in London, the survey said. "The City has some way to go. There is still room for another 35,000 gay or lesbian employees before the industry matches the mix in London’s general population," it said. "The extent to which people are ’out’ in their firms is far smaller than the number who privately acknowledges they are homosexual."