Academic and Career Choice For Lesbian and Gay Young Adults

By Margaret Schneider and Joan McCurdy-Myers

Over the past few decades, gay and lesbian people have become increasingly visible. This has resulted in a growing awareness, particularly among counselling professionals, of the impact of being lesbian or gay on an individual’s life. The influence of sexual orientation on academic and career choices is an area which has only recently received notice.

One possible reason for the relative inattention to this topic is that the workplace is not usually associated with sexuality. Yet, it is sexualized in invisible ways. For example, employees discuss their spouses and partners, display family photos, and may have office parties to which spouses and partners are invited. These allusions to heterosexuality are usually invisible, because heterosexuality is taken for granted. However, they are intensely visible to gay and lesbian employees who may feel unsafe revealing their own orientation in direct or indirect ways.

At NATCON this year, we (Marg Schneider and Joan McCurdy-Myers) discussed some of our observations of the ways in which being gay/lesbian may influence academic and career choices for university students. The observations were based on interviews with over 30 gay/lesbian undergraduates at two Ontario universities. Several participants in the NATCON workshop suggested that the discussion started there needed to continue and expand; an electronic discussion group seemed an ideal way to begin. Below we’ll discuss several of the themes we noticed from our interviews and suggest some roles and initiatives that career counsellors and career centres can take. We hope these will start the discussion.

Overall influence of sexual orientation on academic and career choices

Most often, our participants began by saying that their sexual orientation had little influence on their career pathways, although, at the same time, they recognized the possibility of facing discrimination in the workplace if they were open about their sexual orientation. However, once they began to explore the issue during the course of the interview, they described a variety of significant influences. For example, many participants stated initially that their sexual orientation was not a factor in their choice of university. Yet, when this issue was explored, they stated that they had made their final choice (everything else being equal) based on whether the university was in a large urban centre with a vibrant gay/lesbian community or was reputed to be gay/lesbian positive.

The coming out process

Most students reported that the process of coming out had affected their academic performance. This happened in several different ways. Most began to come out to others when they left home to attend university. The stress of working through the issue of sexual orientation, combined with the fears associated with coming out, resulted in inattention to academic work. This is consistent with what other researchers have found; those who come out as young adults often report feeling like they are having a second adolescence, which can also disrupt their attention to academic pursuits. Other participants in our study embraced gay culture and activism so fervently that little energy was left for academic work. A number of participants reported losing a year out of their studies, performing poorly as they were working through sexual identity issues or re-balancing their social and political involvements. Conversely, a few indicated that they worked harder academically, achieving even better grades, as a protection against potential discrimination if their sexual identity were known to their professors.

Out in the workplace?

Many participants, even if they started out closeted, wanted to eventually be out at work; their wish to be authentic, combined with the stress of maintaining a heterosexual façade contributed to this goal. (Those readers who are heterosexual are encouraged to think about the constant stress of never mentioning their spouse or partner, never talking about weekend social activities, never talking about anniversaries or other special occasions that are celebrated with partners and spouses, and the invisibility of refraining from wearing a wedding ring, never having family photos on their desk, or never being able to invite acquaintances from work to their one-bedroom apartment which they share with their partner.)

Consequently, participants were faced with the task of realistically evaluating the impact of their sexual orientation on being able to get and keep a job, be promoted, and generally fit into the workplace. These issues were particularly critical for those wanting to pursue careers in traditionally conservative areas. For example, corporate law was likely to be viewed as being inhospitable to gay men and lesbians not only because of its conservativism but also because socializing with spouses and partners is considered to be part of the “corporate culture”. Regardless of whether or not these characterizations are accurate, respondents believed them to be true, and made their plans accordingly.

The implications of the decision regarding how out to be at work become particularly clear when students prepare for work search by developing resumes and covering letters. Those who have been active in lbgt (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) groups on campus or in the community typically wish to highlight the skills developed through these roles to a potential employer. How do they describe these experiences e.g. use the description “student political or cultural group”? What questions might this raise in the interview? What further information, if any, will they give in an interview? What extra anxiety will be generated if they decide they must be guarded about the nature of the group when the experience is a key one they wish to market?

The Potential Roles of Career Counsellors and Career Centres

Like members of other minority groups, it is particularly important for lesbians and gay men to have role models, peers like themselves and access to a supportive community. As career counsellors, we can assist students in assessing workplace environments by developing contacts with lesbians and gay men in various fields. We have tried several different ways to begin to develop resources (people, print, electronic) and partnerships at the Career Centre at the University of Toronto. We have recently begun to recruit openly gay and lesbian contacts with whom students can talk as we expand our networking resource binder. We are beginning to include people who are out in the workplace in our Career Information events. In our library resources, we include The Pink Pages, Toronto’s Gay & Lesbian Directory; students can use this to identify individuals who are out or gay-positive in different occupations and potentially contact them for information interviews. Work is also underway within Student Services to develop a pink pages site on the website; this site will include links to other sites that discuss issues of career and sexual orientation.

In 1998, the Career Centre co-hosted, with LGBTOUT, a panel entitled Out at Work?, where panelists discussed their experiences and perspectives about being out or coming out at work. Developing partnerships with lgbt groups on campus and in the community and then working together to offer specific programs seems like a good way to begin to identify and meet the needs of lesbian and gay clients.

Before publicly increasing our visibility to lesbian and gay students, the Centre held a professional development session developed by Marg Schneider for all Centre staff. In that session staff explored how our own understanding of being gay or lesbian and how our attitudes and behaviour might affect lesbian and gay students using our services. An article, “Career Centers and Employers: Creating Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Affirmative Environments” by John W. Hall and JoAnne C. Peevey from the Journal of Career Planning and Placement, LVII(4), Summer 1997, p. 34-37, was distributed to all staff.

Much work remains to be done. Let’s continue the discussion here at Contact Point. A discussion group entitled “Career Counselling with Lesbians and Gay Men” has been set up for this purpose. To participate, click . You will be asked to Register (if you are new to Contact Point Discussions) or Login (if you are already a discussion group user). Please note that either of these options will identify you in any messages you post. If you wish to post a message anonymously to this discussion, please login under user name: anonymous – password: anon

Biographies

Margaret Schneider, Ph.D
Department of Adult Education, Community Development and Counselling Psychology
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto
mschneider@oise.utoronto.ca

Joan McCurdy-Myers, M.Ed.
Manager, Career Centre
University of Toronto at Mississauga
jmccurdy@credit.erin.utoronto.ca