Rockway Institute In the News

Study: working 'in the closet' hurts employee and employer  Pam's House Blend (Blog)  November 1, 2007

The nonpartisan Rockway Institute, which conducts research on LGBT policies and programs in order to provide scientific, accurate information to the media and lawmakers, has released results from a poll of more than 500 gay, lesbian and bisexual employees across the U.S. about the toll of the closet in the workplace.

(Quote from release)
The researchers, Belle Rose Ragins and Romila Singh of the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee and John M. Cornwell of Rice University, wrote "these findings were both striking and disturbing; those who reported more fear of the negative consequences of full disclosure had less positive job and career attitudes, received fewer promotions, and reported more physical stress-related symptoms than those who reported less fear." The article, "Making the Invisible Visible: Fear and Disclosure of Sexual Orientation at Work," was published in The Journal of Applied Psychology (2007, Vol. 92, No. 4, 1103-1118).

For those working in what they perceived as a non-supportive environment, the costs of non-disclosure were significant. "Those who feared more negative consequences to disclosure reported less job satisfaction, organizational commitment, satisfaction with opportunities for promotion, career commitment, and organization-based self-esteem and greater turnover intentions than those who feared less negative consequences," wrote the researchers. "Those who feared more negative consequences reported more (job) role ambiguity, more (job) role conflict, and less workplace participation than those who feared less negative consequences," the report continued. "LGB employees who feared more negative consequences also reported greater psychological strain than those who feared less negative consequences." Psychological strain was described as stress-related symptoms experienced on the job, work-related depression, and work-related irritation.

"These findings fit with other research showing that more accepting work environments are associated with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees being healthier and more productive.  The research also provides some additional facts concerning the need for public policies protecting against job discrimination," said Robert-Jay Green, executive director of the Rockway Institute, a national center for LGBT research and public policy affiliated with Alliant International University.  "Employees who are not afraid of being fired or held back from promotion because of their same-sex orientations are psychologically freer to put their full creative energies into work.  This, in turn, saves employers’ time and money.  It a win-win for all concerned."

(From Pam Spaulding)
The answer may seem obvious, but it destroys the fundie old saw that blames homosexuality with depression or other mental illness -- it's the stress of the fear of being outed, being treated in an unequal manner, being harassed by bigots and institutional prejudice that ails gay folks, not being gay. More after the jump.

(Quote from release)
The researchers Ragins, Singh, and Cornwell concluded that deciding whether to come-out is an exceptionally difficult career challenge facing lesbian/gay employees that typically goes unnoticed by employers.  However, the threats to employment security are real. There are no laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in 31 states, and such discrimination remains "widespread" in practice.
 
(From Pam Spaulding)
Findings in this study:

* 37 percent said they had faced discrimination because others suspected or assumed they were gay or lesbian.
* More than 10 percent said they had been physically harassed.
* More than 22 percent said they had been verbally harassed.
* Nearly 31 percent said they had resigned from a job, had been fired from a job or had left a job because of discrimination.

While discrimination against transgender employees was not covered in this particular poll, Rockway included information from different studies around the country in its release:

* At least 20 percent and as many as 57 percent report discrimination.
* In Illinois, between 37 and 42 percent of 108 gender variant persons reported discrimination.
* In Virginia, 20 percent of 350 transgender persons reported being denied employment
* 13 percent reported being fired, and 31 percent said they had been harassed.
* In San Francisco, 57 percent of 194 transgender persons reported employment discrimination