When the Office Is a Closet

Research released by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, America’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil-rights organization, suggests that discrimination against gay people in the workplace is alive and well, even at some companies that try to be inclusive.

Fully 51 percent of the people studied in the survey hide their sexual orientation at work. Fifty-eight percent have heard derogatory comments or jokes about gays while they are at work. And the younger you are, the more likely you are to hide your sexual identity on the job. Just 5 percent of workers aged 18 to 24 say they are totally open about their sexuality at work.

That's despite policies in place at the majority of Fortune 500 companies that have prohibited discrimination against gays and lesbians since 1995 and offered partner benefits since 2006.

In many workplaces the atmosphere leaves gays and lesbians out of the casual conversation that builds teams at work, and it increases stress for gay and lesbian employees, and contributes to negative attitudes about work. What these kinds of numbers point to, the study's author says, is a blow to the bottom line of corporations that don't actively try to be inclusive.

"The casual team-building conversations, if LGBT persons are not able to participate, it does impact their productivity," said Daryl Herrschaft, one of the study's authors.

Fifty-four percent of those surveyed who are not open about their sexual identities told the report's authors that they lie about their social lives in conversation.

And the effects of these conditions for gays and lesbians can drop directly to a company's bottom line Herrschaft said. One in five reported looking for a new job, and 13 percent report staying home from work because of the stress of feeling unwelcome.

So what's a company to do?

"They have to begin to understand that inclusive policies are only the first step," Herrschaft said.

Making gays and lesbians welcome at work starts at the top and works its way down through the management ranks. Zero tolerance for negative comments and jokes, tracking information about attitudes of gays and lesbians toward their workplace, and speaking in inclusive language (think "partner," or "significant other," rather than "husband" or "wife") can all go a long way toward making inclusive policies translate into an inclusive workplace.

"I think it's visible leadership on the issue," said Herrschaft.

The survey comes as legislation to protect gays and lesbians in the workplace, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), gets a hearing before the House Education and Labor Committee on Wednesday. ENDA isn't a new piece of legislation—it's been introduced in all but one congressional term since 1994—and activists hope that with a Democratic majority in the House and Senate and a Democrat in the White House, this might be their best shot at getting ENDA enacted into law.