Gay chief executives and senior business leaders are being urged to be open about their sexuality in one of the most ambitious initiatives to promote diversity in the boardroom. The launch on Wednesday of OUTstanding In Business, a network aimed at executives, is backed by Google, BP and Barclays…Currently there is no openly gay leader of a FTSE 100 company…The initiative is the brainchild of [the] founder of Audeliss, an executive recruitment firm, who regularly attends existing networks and was struck by the lack of gay senior executives. He said: “[T]here is still a battle to be fought against discrimination. There are still areas where we need to encourage positive attitudes, including the senior level of big business.’’…The network hopes not only that senior executives will come out but that they will also encourage suppliers to emulate the example of their blue-chip clients. It hopes eventually to go global and encourage big companies to exert influence on regimes where LGBT people suffer discriminatory laws, or where homosexuality is illegal. In a separate initiative to encourage racial diversity…[the] chairman of headhunting firm Buchanan Harvey, has established a mentoring programme to help ethnic minority executives attain board and executive committee-level roles…[Also refers to BMI, BP, Buchanan Harvey, Channel 5, Ernst & Young, HSBC, ITV, Thomas Cook]