Marjolein Dennissen

76 The Herculean task of diversity networks disadvantaged groups have to deal with, is constructed as a complaint and downplayed. By means of the reversed Oppression Olympics of diversity networks, organizational inequalities, disadvantage and privilege are silenced. Identity politics Besides the revelation of a reversed Oppression Olympics, my analysis of political intersectionality has also drawn attention to the impact of identity politics. Identity politics refers to the articulation of political beliefs in the name of a particular social group, claiming a certain political stance (Bickford, 1997). Being organized around a single social identity, diversity networks exercise identity politics in organizations. I illustrate the impact of these identity politics by presenting my analysis of an attempt towards collaboration and coalition building between the LGBT network and the ethnic minority network in Finance. A possible topic could be homosexuality and being an allochthone [migrant], that is of course a sensitive topic, especially in the Muslim world. Uh, for example, how do Muslims [within the organization] deal with uh- if they see people that are openly gay or... that sort of things. How do you- or if you are gay yourself and you are Muslim, what kind of problems are there? Do they not dare to- uh… come out of the closet? Because, what if a family member would find out, that sort of thing. Maybe we could have made a theme about that. But that has not happened thus far. (Evan, LGBT network Finance) Evan addresses the disadvantaged positions of both ethnic minorities and LGBTs and makes the connection across diversity networks by mentioning possible interests they would have in common. Although Evan attempts to find a common ground among members of the LGBT network and the ethnic minority network, tensions arise when a potential collaboration between the LGBT network and the ethnic minority network is getting more explicit: With the [ethnic minority network] we looked into a joint theme for organizing an [ethnic minority]-LGBT event. The [ethnicminority network] was not that enthusiastic about choosing a gay theme specifically for the whole event. It could be more general and meant to network, like drinks. For them, networking is their main goal, not questioning themes. Next year we as [network] board want to sit around the table with the [ethnic minority network] to see how we can organize a joint event. Even if it would be drinks, it enhances the acceptance of LGBTs amongmembers of the [ethnic minority network] in a way that is without obligations, without dedicating a theme with a keynote speaker to it. (Annual plan LGBT network Finance) If you look at the gaybian and [ethnic minority] network, then actually that is an interesting combination, because in certain cultures it is even harder to be open about your sexual