Coming Out and the Impact on Leadership Roles

• In Event: 61.038 - Queerness and the Catholic Educational Mission: Untold Stories

Abstract

The queer community presence continues to increase in the United States due more individuals becoming visible in workplaces, with an estimated queer population of up to 17% (Martinez, Ruggs, Sabat, Hebl, & Binggeli, 2013). The increasingly diverse workforce leaves organizations struggling to leverage the knowledge, experience, and perspectives that lesbian and gay staff and leaders bring to the organization. McFadden (2015) points out, there is limited research that informs organizations of the strategies lesbian and gay people in leadership roles use to navigate their ascension into their positions, while managing the disclosure of their sexual orientation and professional identity (p. 149). This qualitative, phenomenological study, involving 15 cisgender, lesbian or gay people, explores their experiences in navigating the heteronormative workplace structures that “creates, nurtures, maintains and perpetuates daily acts of violence and bias against employees and groups who are [queer and] acts as a mechanism of control that limits the ability of sexual orientation minority employees to discuss and construct their own identities (Drydakis, 2015, p. 1772).
Through social constructionism theory and queer theory, this research sought to understand the key findings from the data on gay and lesbian leaders in order to document their experiences as out leaders. Social constructionism formed the lens for understanding how sexuality is formed through the social environment, in this case the workplace, and impacting the coming out process (Adeagbo, 2016). Although seemingly contradictory, queer theory provided the space for understanding participants desires and experiences in shrugging off the social norms in the workplace where “regimes of heteronormativity not only regulate the homosexual, but control heterosexual practices by creating a moral hierarchy of good and bad sexual citizens” (Seidman, 2001, p. 354 as cited in Lee et al., 2008, p. 152).
Data analysis, using coding through Nvivo, revealed two overarching experiences – the struggle experienced early in their careers and the responsibility as a leader for other queer staff in the organization, which are further broken down into seven key findings: (a) coming out involves disclosure and concealment strategies, (b) identity includes self-care and integrating personal and professional life, (c) social change establishes new norms that cultures adapt, (d) discrimination occurs most frequently through the “lavender ceiling” and microaggression, (e) the workplace culture is most affected by leaders and policies, (f) activism is critical to the advancement of equity, and (g) Supportive leadership involves mentoring and building a professional network.
This study found that leaders of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community aged 50 years and older tend to follow a passive-disclosure process and use a mask of professionalism to conceal their sexual orientation. For individual leaders, there are several recommended approaches to create an inclusive and open workplace for the LGBTQ community, including the critically important nature of establishing a mentor and support networks, getting directly involved in advocacy and activism for protections in the workplace, and the unparalleled importance of integrating professional and personal lives in order to stay visible as an out individual.

Author

• Justin William Moore, University of San Francisco