Although I had only planned to focus on gender and racial discrimination in the workplace, this article has sparked a new variable. Sexual orientation discrimination. This article examines 534 gay employees, 162 of whom were gay employees of color. Gay and lesbian employees of color face discrimination not just because of their sexual orientation but also because of their race, ethnicity, and gender.
In addition to discrimination, gender and race may also affect the decision to “be out,” or the disclosure of a gay identity to others in the workplace. Lesbians and gay people of color may hesitate to disclose their sexual orientation at work because of their fear of becoming susceptible to yet another form of workplace discrimination.
The researchers controlled for two important factors when testing the spillover model:
Hypothesis 1a: Holding protective legislation constant, lesbians will be less likely than gay males to disclose their sexual orientation in the workplace, and gay people of color will be less likely than gay Caucasians to disclose their sexual orientation in the workplace.
Hypothesis 1b: Holding protective legislation constant, gay White males will be more likely than any other group to disclose their sexual orientation in the workplace.
Hypothesis 2a: Holding protective legislation and disclosure of sexual orientation constant, lesbians will report more heterosexism in the workplace than will gay males, and gay people of color will report more heterosexism than will gay Caucasians.
Hypothesis 2b: Holding protective legislation and disclosure of sexual orientation constant, White gay males will report less heterosexism in the workplace than will any other group.
This article opened my eyes to a whole new variable of discrimination to explore. The results show that lesbians were as likely to disclose as gay men, but gay employees of color were less likely to disclose at work. Gay and lesbian employees of color face discrimination not just because of their sexual orientation but also because of their race, ethnicity, and gender. It is still legal to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation in most workplaces and 6 out of 10 Americans believe that homosexuality is morally wrong.
Ragins, B. R., Cornwell, J. M., & Miller, J. S. (2003). Heterosexism in the workplace: Do race and gender matter? Group & Organization Management, 28(1), 45-74.
-K. Flowers