Talking to LGBTQ+ clients

When meeting a new or relatively new client, advisers know next to nothing about that person, including their sexual orientation and how they identify in terms of gender.

How can you make sure you are being inclusive when advising members of the LGBTQ+ community?

Use gender neutral language

People typically use gender neutral language when referring to the children of someone they are unfamiliar with, but that hasn’t yet typically extended to romantic relationships. Getting into the habit of using gender neutral language, particularly when speaking to new clients, is a good first step.

“If you’re speaking to somebody and they want a single policy, you’re probably not going to get tripped up but if it’s a joint policy – and this covers the sexual orientations within the LGBTQ community, the Ls [lesbians], the Gs [gays] and the Bs [bisexuals] – it’s best initially to use the terminology ‘partner’, ‘other half’ or ‘spouse’ rather than assuming the gender of that person,” says Roisin Geraghty (she/her), Chair of Zurich Pride UK, Zurich’s LGBTQ+ employee network.

“Within the first couple of minutes you might find you’re having to correct yourself. If you said to me ‘your husband’ because I’m wearing a wedding ring and I had to correct you and say ‘actually, my wife’, it doesn’t get you off to a great start.

“It’s very easy to do, but it’s just as easy to say, ‘is your partner going to be on this policy with you?’ And I may say, ‘yes, I’d like to add my wife’. You would then know and can use that language.”

Whether a client is with someone of the same or opposite sex, they may continue to use gender neutral language and refer to their ‘partner’.

Think about pronouns

Pronouns are another way in which we refer to ourselves and our possessions.

“I am Roisin, my pronouns are ‘she’ and ‘her’. If you were speaking about me you may say ‘she works for Zurich’ or ‘Roisin will be sharing her update’, because those are my pronouns.

“If you weren’t to know me and my pronouns, the best option is to use ‘they’ and ‘them’. We use these pronouns when we don’t know the person at all.

“My favourite analogy is if, for example, we see an abandoned umbrella, we’d say, ‘someone has left their umbrella, I hope they don’t get wet in the rain’.

“We know it belongs to one person, it’s not a group of people who have co-owned this umbrella, but we don’t know them so we can’t infer anything.

“That’s another thing advisers can do to create a neutral space until the person has told you their pronouns or the pronouns of their partner who they may want to include on the policy.”

An adviser who wants to be very inclusive, could introduce their own pronouns.

“If I was the adviser, I could say, ‘My name’s Roisin, my pronouns are ‘she’ and ‘her’ and I’m going to be helping you with your life insurance policy. The client may then choose to share their pronouns.

“For people who use gender neutral pronouns, it’s really nice to create that space to give them a chance to tell you.”

A client may choose to use the pronouns they/them or ze/zir – neutral pronouns that are usually used by people who are non-binary and don’t identify with either binary gender.

“Six months ago I would have been talking about a person’s preferred pronouns but that’s no longer considered to be the most inclusive. They are not their preferred pronouns, they just are their pronouns – I don’t prefer the name Roisin, it’s just my name. Just as when someone gets your name right, having your correct pronouns used is a very validating experience.”

Be conscious of gender identity

T in the LGBTQ+ acronym stands for ‘trans’. This is often used as an umbrella term for anyone whose gender does not align to the sex they were assigned at birth. Every human has a chromosomal makeup of XX and XY.

“Mine is XX. It suggests that I am going to grow up and not develop an Adam’s apple. It suggests that I am going to have ovaries and I might need to go bra shopping,” says Roisin.

“What it doesn’t tell you is who I am as a person and what my identify is.

“I am cisgendered – I identify as a woman, the same as the sex I was assigned at birth. But I am unique – my appearance and the way I choose to live my life is unique to me.

“For someone who is transgendered, that is the opposite. Who they are and know themselves to be would not align with the sex they were assigned at birth, so they may choose to transition.

“Transition is unique to each person and can take many forms sometimes this includes surgery but it doesn’t have to.”

There are many gender identities within the community not just Transgender identities. Non-binary identities are varied and can include people who identify with some aspects of binary identities, while others reject them entirely. Someone who is non-binary may also use a gender-neutral title, commonly Mx.

“If your client was a Mx Alex Jones, you wouldn’t know if Alex Jones was male or female but the presence of the Mx would tell you that Alex is using gender neutral terminology, so probably doesn’t identify as either a man or a woman,” says Roisin.

Have open conversations

There is a balance to be struck when talking about life insurance and the types of questions that need to be asked about someone’s physical body and physical health. Being open and non-judgemental is the best way to approach such conversations.

Gender neutral pricing across the industry has been law since December 2012 but the terminology used on application forms could be more inclusive. The term ‘gender’ is used commonly across the industry with two available options, male or female, and discussions are ongoing regarding the use of this term and lack of flexibility in the response.

“The industry as a whole is reviewing this area and trying to work out what is best to do – whether we change those initial questions to being more explicit that we want to know about biological sex rather than the gender that the customer identifies themselves as,” says Nicky Bray, chief underwriter at Zurich.

“We want to know what your mortality risk is and to do that we need to determine what your sex is.”

When taking out life insurance, the ‘gender’ of the person must currently be answered based on their biological sex at birth. This drives relevant questions, including those on cancer and those surrounding any family history of cancer. Certain surgeries may protect a transgendered person from some diseases but not others. For example, if a trans man has a double mastectomy, that will remove a lot of the risk of breast cancer because the tissue is no longer there. But depending on their transition, they may still be at risk of cervical cancer or ovarian cancer. Equally, a trans female will still typically have a prostate and a risk of prostate cancer.

“Although testicular surgery performed for someone transitioning will remove the risk of testicular cancer, my understanding is that usually the prostate is not removed because it isn’t an external sign of the person’s sex,” says Nicky.

Explaining the reason for the questions is crucial.

“If your client has identified themselves to you as trans, take the time to explain why the questions are important to insurers and why it’s important to answer based on your physical sex. Be gentle with it and give them time to answer,” says Roisin.

“Don’t be afraid to say, I’m going to need to ask you this, are you comfortable telling me? And if you aren’t comfortable, I’m not going to be able to complete this quote and I’d really like to make sure we get you this cover.”

Our delegated underwriting function could be of great benefit here. Zurich, via our Life Protection platform, is one of a few providers that offers advisers delegated underwriting across life, critical illness and income protection products. This enables the client to complete the underwriting section themselves in the own time, making them feel more comfortable and in control of their personal information, reducing the potential for non-disclosure, while freeing up the adviser’s time.

Roisin adds: “I think the main thing that advisers need to know is that the person in front of them wants to buy that life insurance – they want to have themselves covered.”

Zurich UK is one of Stonewall’s diversity champions. Stonewall is an organisation that imagines a world where all LGBTQ+ people are free to be themselves and can live their lives to the full.

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