It's easy. People mention being part of various LGBT groups on their resumes, or they put rainbow flags on their social media. Sexual orientation is actually very visible these days.

Staffing agencies even have facets in their CRMs/spreadsheets list/search system to quickly identify candidates.

>Sexual orientation is actually very visible these days.

Well, obvious selection bias at play-- only some lgbt people do this.

If any founders/managers/HR people are reading this: I say this as a member of the lgbt community: if sexual orientation is completely irrelevant to the actual work (don't kid yourself, it probably is), then promoting careerist opportunism over irrelevant aspects of one's identity is not helpful. We don't need handouts, we actually need the same level of respect as everyone else. Please stop treating sexuality as being up for exploitation.

Does this sort of thing actually help your career development in a meaningful way? This may sound fucked up but I'd happily put myself down as LGBT if I knew it would speed up my career ladder climbing.

At my job, we have 3 separate bonus referral rates. One for standard hire, an increased bonus if they are a veteran, and a higher one for poc/lgbt.

Am I crazy to think that is borderline illegal?

No.

Imagine knowing you got a bonus because the person you referred is black/trans. That's so backwards and patronizing