Behind the Mask | The Voice of Africa's LGBTI Community

If you’re a gay or lesbian individual chances are you’ve seen your fair share of difficult situations, especially when it comes to “coming out.” Coming out to family and friends is one thing, but have you come out at work?

A 2011 study by Angus-Reid showed that 55 per cent of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered individuals (commonly abbreviated as LGBT) have not informed the people they work with.

While experts and LGBT individuals agree that workplace tolerance has risen significantly in the last five years, it’s still proving difficult for gay men and women to be open in their place of work, especially in conservative Alberta.

“Running a magazine, we get to see first hand how redneck Calgary can be,” said Steve Polyak, owner and operator of Gay Calgary, Calgary’s first LGBT magazine.

Polyak, who has seen both the positives and negatives of being out at work, has dealt with discrimination from local businesses and previous employers, but he’s also experienced the fun and quality of life that can result from being himself with the people he works with.

He was fired from his job in sales at a computer company several years ago because of his employer’s religious beliefs, and he isn’t the first person to be fired from a job because of sexual orientation.

“What I see is a rather disturbing trend of non-acceptance,” said Mount Royal University associate professor Susan Quinn, who has worked in human resources for more than 30 years.

“[Employers] have an attitude where they pick and choose which laws they might want to follow and which ones they want to ignore.”

Polyak, who remembers a time when discrimination was based more on the employer’s policies than on the law, knows that it isn’t as easy as simply citing the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“Some businesses have [universal tolerance] in writing,” Polyak said, noting that the company his partner works for is one of those.

“Other businesses may not have it in writing, often times that is when people say, ‘I had better bite my tongue.’”

Quinn, on the other hand, insisted that the laws are clear when it comes to discrimination of any group.

“We protect the rights of the individual, that becomes paramount, that is more enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms,” Quinn said in comparison with the rights of those who hold discriminatory views of homosexuals.

She compared the protection offered by the charter to legislation about seatbelts or impaired driving, stressing that, “You can always disagree with the legislation, but it will always be there.”

Quinn recommended that all companies act not just legally,  but ethically as well.

Polyak and Quinn agreed that the perception is changing. The Angus-Reid survey showed 72 per cent of those surveyed said that, “Attitudes in the workplace towards LGBT people have improved over the past five years.”

Polyak said he’s seen an interesting dichotomy in the Canadian workplace where if you aren’t discriminated against because of your sexuality, you may well be celebrated because of it.

“Will you be chastised for being gay and fired? Or will you be the token individual who saves the company?” Polyak asked.

“It goes from one extreme to another, as a gay person you don’t know what extreme you’re going to be on.”

Polyak remembered a previous job in which he was outed at work by a group of saleswomen who openly identified themselves as lesbians and were far more accepted because of it.

But Quinn warned employers that hire an individual because of their sexuality, or embrace them based on perceived skills or attributes, that it’s just as dangerous as discriminating against them for the same reasons.

“Putting someone in a box and categorizing them is the definition of stereotyping,” said Quinn.

But Polyak noted that the only way things will change is if people try to make a change.

“The older generation is far more likely to be afraid to come out of the closet, the younger generation is more likely to come out of the closet at a younger age. They are far more likely to want to try something new.”

If you, or someone you know, is struggling with discrimination in the workplace,  there are resources: talk to a human resources official in the company or visit www.albertahumanrights.ab.ca.

Article source: http://www.theweal.com/2012/01/10/coming-out-of-the-corporate-closet/

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 at 10:49 am and is filed under Top Stories, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.