The story about the resignation of BP chief executive Lord Browne has rattled the business world.

Lord Browne is not the first, and no doubt he won't be the last person destroyed by the British tabloids. But few careers could end as badly as this.

One complication is that Browne faces the threat of perjury charges for lying to the court to cover up the fact that he was gay.

But let's put that to one side. There is an important question here.

Writing in The Times, Matthew Parris suggests the business world is still coming to terms with homosexuality:

"Men like John Browne have had the misfortune to rise to power and prominence during a time of transition. Their careers straddle two eras. When he was young man, just starting, there is no way he would have made it to the top as an openly gay junior executive. The choice was between celibacy and a discretion bordering on deception.

"As the years rolled on and attitudes began to shift, it was too late for him to shift with them, disavowing impressions he had allowed to arise at the start. Now he was too exposed. It would be news. It would not be news his shareholders and colleagues would have liked. He became stuck with a version of himself that he would never have chosen if he had known how times would change. And he persuaded himself that it was in the interests of his company, too - and Britain, for BP pays a bit of all our wages - not to spoil the picture the world had of him.

"There must be thousands of senior men, and a few women too, in Lord Browne's position, but undiscovered. There are still some left in politics. Is it for you or me to point fingers and preach about honesty? I doubt it."

The Guardian calls it the "pink plateau".

"It's the glass ceiling that makes gay men and lesbians virtually invisible in the boardrooms of global multinationals.

"Homophobia may be withering in offices and on the shopfloor but among Britain's business elite the closet remains firmly shut. At the global oil majors, routinely negotiating deals in countries not known for their tolerance of homosexuality, being openly gay is simply not an option."

It's an observation that extends to big business right around the world. While the rest of the world has moved on, and attitudes to homosexuality have changed, the corporate corridors of power remain a closed shop.

As the Globe and Mail reports, many executives might keep their sexual orientation quiet for family, or other personal reasons, that have nothing to do with work.

You will find very few of them in boardrooms or running big corporations.