Careers and Queers: What’s the link?

By Gregg Blachford

Careers And Queers: What’s the link?

Homophobia is the fear of lesbians, gay males, bisexuals and transgendered people and the hatred, intolerance, disgust, discrimination and prejudice that this fear brings.
Heterosexism is the promotion by institutions of the inherent superiority of heterosexuality and the assumption that everyone is heterosexual.

Two questions have always interested me both as a career counsellor and a gay man. First of all, what are the ways in which one’s sexual orientation can influence career choice? Secondly, despite the many positive legal and cultural changes that have made lesbians and gay men more visible in Canada and better protected against discrimination, why do so many gay men and lesbians still remain “closeted” at work – keeping our “queerness” a secret? I want to examine these questions and finish by suggesting how career counsellors can create a welcoming environment for their queer clients in career centres.

The word “queer”, which some find offensive, is a convenient single word with a political punch that encompasses a long list of sexual minorities and, through its use, defuses its offensiveness. My emphasis here will be on lesbians and gay men. Issues for bisexuals and transgendered people overlap, but the differences need separate attention.

Empirical data is rare in this area. As Margaret Schneider and Joan McCurdy-Myers said in a Contact Point Bulletin article in Spring 1999, www.contactpoint.ca/bulletins/v2-n4/v2-n4.html The influence of sexual orientation on academic and career choices is an area which has only recently received notice”. My assertions come from my experiences with working with gay and lesbian youth in my professional and volunteer work.

Growing up Queer

Because of homophobia and heterosexism, growing up queer takes us through phases that “straights” (i.e. heterosexuals) generally don’t experience. From an early age, we begin to feel different and sense these feelings are wrong so we hide them, getting good at lying and pretending as we “stay in the closet”. We are alone with our feelings, not able to look to parents or friends to give us strategies or strength to deal with our pain and frustration. Eventually, as we gain friends and confidence, we “come out” and start telling the truth. We begin to feel pride and we develop a sense of community and a support network.

But often the scars of the pre–coming out days stay with us as “internalized homophobia” (an ongoing unconscious feeling of shame) that influences our lives in many ways, including our career choices.

Choosing a Career

Picking a career that we can enjoy requires us to be confident in knowing who we are and what we want. Internalized homophobia lowers our self–confidence and may make it harder for us to have an accurate picture of our skills and interests. We get so good at pretending to be different, that it may be hard to know “the real me”.

Occupations may be picked not based on one’s skills and interests, but rather on choosing or avoiding careers based only on one’s sexuality. For example, occupations may be selected because “That’s what lesbians do” or “I want to explore my sexuality and be in a safe space, so I’ll choose a career where there are lots of gay people”.

Alternatively, occupations may be avoided because they’re not for “people like me”: “I could never be a corporate lawyer, – none of them are queer”; or because of fear: “I’m not going to be an engineer – people might think I’m a lesbian”. We may rely on myths and stereotypes because we don’t have the networks that would give us access to more accurate information.

Coming Out in the Workplace

Once a career destination is decided upon, then questions of how to look for work and how to act “on the job” emerge. Should I come out on my resume? At the interview? After hired? After the first promotion? Never? Also, how should I deal with any discriminatory actions on the part of my bosses or colleagues?

In a useful article by Y. Barry Chung in the September 2001 issue of the Career Development Quarterly called Work Discrimination and Coping Strategies: Conceptual Frameworks for Counseling Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Clients, he says that the queer individual’s perceptions of discrimination, assessment of risk and level of confidence are crucial in understanding how they look for work and “get by” at work once they get the job. These factors influence when people decide to move from being totally closeted to publicly out, from the separation of their personal and professional lives to the integration of the two.

Despite legislative and cultural advances, discrimination and harassment certainly can still be found in many workplaces. But, if internalized homophobia and fear still play a big role, we become experts at “keeping our secret”. Maybe we just can’t break the habit, even in a more positive environment, so we remain closeted.

How to help queer clients

What do queer clients need from career counsellors? They need some sense that you “get it” – that you understand the link between queers and careers. How?

• Signal support through using words that don’t assume the client is heterosexual
• Display Pride colours/flag somewhere in the office – it doesn’t have to be big – we’ll notice it!
• Set up or join a “Safe Space” Program at your institution.
• Bring up this topic with colleagues at supervision sessions.
• Visit the Contact Point Resource Centre and Follow the GLBT link for dozens of useful websites and the safe space symbols collection.

Finally, when working with queer clients, it helps to ask how central is being queer to their identity compared with their race, ethnicity, religion, or sex? Help them develop a support system from which they can gain accurate information about the work world and differentiate between real and imagined fears about coming out. Help defeat internalized homophobia by working with them to see how the queer experience can actually bring skills and qualities to the workplace instead of just being “a problem”.

Gregg Blachford is the Director of McGill University’s Career and Placement Service where he has initiated career programs to work with queer students. He volunteers with Gay Line, Montreal’s Anglophone listening and information telephone help line. Contact: gregg.blachford@mcgill.ca