Fitting the bill? (Dis)embodied disclosure of sexual identities in the workplace

Abstract

The disclosure of lesbian, gay or bisexual identity is generally presented as a conscious act of leaving heterosexuality. Such interpretation fails to take into account the dynamic processes involved in constructing non-heterosexual identities and to what degree such identities are embodied or disembodied. Supported by interview data among lesbian and gay employees in six British workplaces, this article explores how non-heterosexual identities become known in organizational settings by arguing that lesbians and gay men continue to collide with social expectations and stereotypical ideas of how sexual identities should be ‘worn’ and performed. These expectations and ideas both shape colleagues’ assumptions about their non-heterosexual identities and can expose lesbians and gay men to negative behaviour at work in highly gendered ways.