This article shows a majority of LGBT folk still hide their orientation at work. I find this sad, that people still don't feel able to be themselves. There's a difference in not letting one's private life spilll over into one's professional life and being afraid to come out because of the negative consequences. People having the courage to come out has been the deciding factor, I believe, in the change of attitudes of the general population in favor of LGBT rights.
4 comments:
Where I work, the ones who are out are the younger ones (30 and under). About three out of a staff of approx. 75.
Hey, I'm a librarian. We're totally amazed in my library right now that we have as many straight males as we do have. Otherwise almost all women, some of whom are gay as well, and gay men. I'm a Kinsey 2 bisexual, and have gay friends. I see how difficult it is in our society for LGBT people, which is why I speak out so much on the issue.
The ones at work who are out seem to be comfortable with it. I try not to speculate about who's in the closet but the ratio of 4 (just remembered another) out of 75 is really low, statistically.
I can imagine how hard it must be to be on the down low or even to be out and be proud, especially if there's an atmosphere of "Don't Ask Don't Tell."
I would say my workplace (which is in a fairly liberal county that voted down Proposition 8 by a vast majority) is gay-friendly. However, there are quite a few older conservatives, a couple of whom are none too quiet about how they "don't agree with that."
Great to hear the perspective from another point of view.
If you want to see something that really drives home the difficulties gays and lesbians face see Torch Song Trilogy. I just saw it this weekend and it blew me away.
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