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When Supervisors and Managers Tolerate Heterosexism: Challenges, Opportunities, and Implications for Workplace Advocacy

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Sexual Orientation and Transgender Issues in Organizations

Abstract

Heterosexism is part of the social foundation of many organizations and institutions in the United States and worldwide, yet the extent to which that behavior is tolerated by supervisors and managers is less known. Heterosexism refers to attitudes and beliefs that privilege heterosexual identities and norms while discrediting the identities and norms of sexual minorities. Though not all workplace environments are negative for lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) workers, many workers share the knowledge that sexual minorities have been historically considered bad, sick, immoral, or inferior to heterosexuals. This shared cultural knowledge impacts the extent to which heterosexism by managers and supervisors is accepted or tolerated by workers. This chapter reports the results of an empirical study of a convenience sample (n = 247) of upstate New York workers’ experiences of organizational tolerance for a supervisor’s heterosexist behaviors. In addition, the chapter considers how the results of the present study may offer insight for how human resource professionals, organizational behavior consultants, social workers, and other workplace advocates can advance organizational policies that better protect LGB workers.

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Acknowledgement

The author gratefully acknowledges the United University Professions Joint Labor-Management Committees and the Dr. Nuala McGann Drescher Affirmative Action/Diversity Leave Program for providing release time to analyze these data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College at Brockport, State University of New York, Brockport, NY, USA

    Trevor G. Gates

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  1. Trevor G. Gates
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Correspondence to Trevor G. Gates .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Mgmt, Vienna Univ of Economics & Business, Vienna, Austria

    Thomas Köllen

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Gates, T.G. (2016). When Supervisors and Managers Tolerate Heterosexism: Challenges, Opportunities, and Implications for Workplace Advocacy. In: Köllen, T. (eds) Sexual Orientation and Transgender Issues in Organizations. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29623-4_28

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