COMING OUT IN THE WORKPLACE
How Out Do You Want to Be?
Coming out is a personal decision. It is up to you to determine how important it is to be out and under what circumstances. Do not allow other people to make you feel guilty about your decision or force you into a choice that isn’t right for you. For many people, their sexual orientation is an integral part of their identity and to remain closeted in the workplace would seem false. Others, however, may prefer to maintain a level of separation between their personal and professional lives, only sharing information about their orientation with close friends and family. Whatever you decide the decision belongs to you and you alone.
Please note, however, separating one’s identity can potentially lead to feelings of lowered selfesteem and frustration about leading a dual life. On the flipside, being openly out could lead to discrimination, harassment or even the loss of one’s job. It could, however, be a liberating moment. In this regard, there are, unfortunately, a lot of gray areas and no “right” answer.
Things to Consider:
• What has been your level of involvement within LGBTQIA+ activities and the community?
• Are most of your friends, peers and support networks LGBTQIA+ connected?
• If you have a partner, are they out in most situations?
The strength of your identification or possibly the level of past commitment to the LGBTQIA+ community may be a deciding factor in whether or not to come out in the workplace and how visible to be. Your attitudes about this are likely to change throughout your lifetime. Each time you change jobs, you will likely re-evaluate your feelings about being out.
Many people believe the only way to gain widespread acceptance is to be out and visible, whereas others prefer to express their identity in a less direct, more personal manner. The bottom line is that for now, you must decide what is best for you.
Researching Organization Policies and Climates
The industry to which you are applying for jobs might be more or less accepting of LGBTQIA+ employees than others, although you should not generalize before researching a specific organization. Prior to an interview, try to investigate an organization's official policies and resources. Reference the Career Resource Guide for LGBTQ+ Students in Handshake for additional resources when looking into nondiscrimination policies and domestic partnership benefits. Additionally, try to contact current staff or LGBTQ+ employee groups about the organizational climate of that company and what it’s really like to work there?
If your job search takes you to unfamiliar geographic regions, find out if the future worksite is located in a state, county, city or community that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (this may set a general tone of acceptance, or at least tolerance). There might be regional or municipal workplace groups for LGBTQ+ individuals, even if there isn’t one for a particular organization; these types of associations are invaluable for networking. In the absence of employee groups, contact bookstores, gay-owned businesses, and the like, to learn more about the region you are targeting. Take advantage of the LGBTQ+ networks that are widely accessible through Gay Yellow Pages, online, and so forth. Don't forget to also contact the Center for Diversity and Inclusion to identify alumni who are willing to provide advice and information to current students. R
Resume Writing
How Much to Share, Should LGBTQIA+ Related Activities be Included on the Resume?
Consider your audience and determine ahead of time how out you want to be. If you are applying for a queer affiliated opportunity (e.g., a lobbyist for the NGLTF), then your LGBTQIA+ experiences can be identifiying ones, have said that such information can be extraneous, especially if social activities are summarized rather than skills and achievements.
Choosing What to Include
If you do decide to include and then document your accomplishments from this experience. An additional strategy is the use of a “functional” resume, one that groups accomplishments in student organizations together according to functions/skills a distinct advantage! But what about other types of jobs? The skills you developed as a result of participation in LGBTQIA+ organizations are likely to be of interest to many employers, although the organizations in which you participated may be viewed with less enthusiasm by some. To help evaluate the policies and climates of various organizations and industries, conduct a bit of research prior to writing your resume.
Weighing Pros & Cons
As with any potentially controversial group affiliation, such as political or religious activities, you will want to consider the pros and cons of including such information. One strategy is to simply omit any reference to LGBTQIA+ organizations or activities. Some recruiters, even queer LGBTQIA+ related information on your resume, be certain to emphasize accomplishments that are relevant to employers. Highlight leadership, budgeting, event planning, public speaking, and organizational skills. While highlighting skills, you might “downplay” the nature of the organization in which you developed those skills.
Strategies
One option is to use an acronym, other than the wellknown “LGBTQIA+.” Such as “LGBA” Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Alliance or “SAGA” Sexuality & Gender Acceptance, but be prepared during an interview to explain what LGBA or SAGA stands for. Another approach is to list the organization as an “AntiDiscrimination Organization,” rather than by organization name. An example of this would be to list things you do well such as money management, fundraising, and bookkeeping under a heading of “Business Skills.” This strategy provides a way to highlight leadership, planning, teamwork, and other skills while de-emphasizing where you developed them. Regardless of which strategy you utilize on the resume, you will still need to be prepared for questions during an interview.
Interviewing Strategies
Preparing for interviews is critical. If you have not yet researched the firm, you should do so before the interview.
Once you have information about an organization’s policies and climate, you now have information to help decide whether or not to come out during the interview. Since you rarely know the attitudes of an interviewer ahead of time, you do run the risk of encountering someone who might evaluate you negatively (consciously or unconsciously), regardless of company policies.
Depending on the strategies you have used to present LGBTQIA+ related activities on your resume, you might have already given the interviewer some indications that you are bisexual, gay, lesbian, or transgender. If that is the case, you should be prepared to talk about how your experiences have developed desirable leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills. You do not want to be caught off guard, appearing unprepared or even embarrassed about your background. An interviewer might ask, “I see you were president of LGBA for two years. Can you tell me what kind of organization it is?” If you have decided to be out, you can respond with a simple description. If you have chosen not to come out yet, you may want to refer to it as an anti-discrimination organization and then focus on the achievements as a result of your work.
You could “test the waters” with an interviewer by asking about the organization’s diversity initiatives - does the recruiter’s reply include mention of issues pertaining to sexual orientation? To be more direct, you might ask, “Can you tell me more about diversity in the workplace and related policies, as they might deal with race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and the like?” These should not be your first questions during an interview. Focus on the job and your capabilities first. Make the company want to hire you. After you have convinced them you are the right one for the job, then make inquiries about benefits, insurance coverage, and discriminatory policies.
Coming Out On The Job
Coming out to a potential supervisor and coworkers can be an intimidating process, but it can also be a liberating experience. These are people who you will spend a majority of your time around, and while you don’t know how they will react; hiding who you are can have a severe impact on your mental wellness.
Look for clues around the office, do you see any same-gender pictures or information on employee bulletin boards that might hint at the office culture? Is the workgroup diverse in other ways? Will you be working with lots of other twenty-something employees?
Typically, “younger” organizations tend to be more comfortable with diversity. In addition, even though it’s hard to generalize, specific industries (e.g., many software companies) and certain geographic locations (e.g., San Francisco) are known for being queer friendly.
In general, it may be best at first to focus on the job, learning more about expectations for your performance, and establishing yourself as a professional. Many people believe when you are coming out to anyone, in any situation, you should use your best judgment and comfort level. You might prefer people get to know you first, with the coming out process evolving more from day to day interactions and discussions. The question, “So, what did you do this weekend?” might become easier to answer once you have already established some friendships.
Although some coworkers may choose to avoid your company in more social situations, the majority will simply accept you for the value of your work and your contributions. Again, the bottom line is that you must decide what will be most comfortable for you. https://www.hrc.org/resources/state-maps
Mitigating Challenges
Staying informed and up-to-date on the legal landscape of which States are LGBTQIA+ friendly and which are not.
While it is not possible to predict potential anti-LGBTQIA+ bias in the hiring process, you can remain aware of specific federal and state legal protections established to ensure legal recourse for victims of employment discrimination.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the federal agency tasked with enforcing federal nondiscrimination laws. While this policy provides critical protection for many employed populations, it does not prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Employers that adopt the EEOC’s policy language, in lieu of creating a tailored policy that includes additional enumerated categories, unintentionally exclude nondiscrimination protection for LGBTQIA+ employees.
While discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity is not protected on the federal level, 33 states and the District of Columbia do offer these protections. In the remaining 17 states, the decision to disclose one’s sexual orientation and/or gender identity during the interview or on-boarding process is a legitimate cause for concern.
During the onboarding process, new employees typically must provide proof of identity for tax forms and complete benefit paperwork for enrollment in health insurance coverage, retirement accounts, and so forth. These on-boarding practices have unique implications, particularly for transgender employees. Currently, only 12 states and the District of Columbia afford their residents the option to change the gender marker on their driver’s license and birth certificates, and just 20 states on driver’s license alone.
Furthermore, many states require complicated, expensive, and lengthy processing times to change a legal name. This requires many employees on the trans-spectrum to produce identification inconsistent with their gender presentation, necessitating the disclosure of sensitive information to human resources professionals. Among individuals who have not (or cannot) modify identification documents, these requirements sometimes lead to an uncomfortable conversation about personal pronouns, (e.g., she/her, he/him, ze/hir) and preferred name, as opposed to legal name. The Human Resources Campaign is a resource for real-time information on laws and policies by state.
Additional Resources