Gay Men and the Working Society
Professor LoPresti
English 102 - Spring Semester – MW06
May 08, 2013
Abstract
The purpose of this research paper is to portray how gay men are treated and how their friendships are made in a working society in general. I started my research for this paper by reading two books written by authors through personal research. They found many results when they were researching the topic of gay men and friendships. A part in both the books when they mention a gay man working got me interesting into researching that aspect. While researching, I came across articles that talked about my topic. From reading those articles, I can tell that the author was also very curious about how gay men were treated in a
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At first, I wanted to research up Islam and homosexuality but then I thought it would a little too short for me to explain in twenty pages. Then I remembered what happened at the counselors’ office. From there, I wanted to know if all gay men were treated like that in different kinds of workplaces. My question to myself, regarding this research, was, “How are gay men treated in a work society filled with people of different gender and sexuality?” My hypothesis is that gay men were treated depending on the other person’s gender and sexuality. My job after that was to see if my research of the topic lead me to the same conclusion.
Methods
For this research paper, I started to get my information from different methods such as background reading, surveys and interviews.
Background Reading My first method in completing this research paper was reading various writings by six different authors: Tillman-Healy (2001), Aaron and Ragusa (2011), Rumenss (2010 and 2008), Dooley (2009), and Price (2011). In the book, (2001) Between gay and straight: Understanding friendship across sexual orientation, the author Lisa M. Tillman-Healy, talks about how some of the gay men are living their work life. One of the men, Al, has to hide his true sexuality from his work place to risk being fired and losing all his money. Another gay man, Tim, works as a gay bartender at a gay bar, where being gay is
Let people not overlook that homosexuals both male and female face the same struggles when it comes to being respected in the field. After “coming out” they are almost alienated from the life that they may have known before. They lose all respect from people they previously considered to be friends. Leaving them alone in what was already a battle.
Johnson wrote: “In 1950 many politicians, journalists, and citizens thought that homosexuals posed more of a threat to national security than Communists…. By November… the “purge of the perverts” resulted in the dismissal of nearly six hundred federal servants. In the state Department alone, security officials boasted that on average they were firing one homesexual per day, more than double the rate of those suspected of political disloyalty.” (Eaklor 87) tells of how this mentality affected the heteronormative society of a war torn world and how that brought about the genocide of federal, minority employees. As seen in the text above, homosexual individuals were seen as worse than their heterosexual counterparts because they were thought to be destroying the American way of life as well as, traditional values given by the society brought about by conservative, warmonger-esque tendencies. Therefore, they were banned from federal employment which, made it difficult to find other work because of the severity of losing federal work.
By giving perspectives of both gay men in the workplace and straight men who have encountered gay men in the workplace, it gives the reader real life examples of what it can be like. This book gives great advice for those who are looking to come out in law enforcement as well as giving good advice to those who may have fellow LGBT coworkers. It really shows LGBT officers options about what they can do about coming out in their department while still ensuring a successful law enforcement career.
Lisa Sherman worked for Verizon for many years. While there she never revealed her sexual orientation .Then one fated day, there was a diversification workshop with her fellow managers. The outcome of this was that her coworkers were bigoted towards homosexuality. Lisa Sherman had a tough decision to make, whether to stay or to leave. The following analysis shows a suggested solution.
Whilst facilitating an enrichment project for KS4 learners, it was my pleasure to work in collaboration with a ex-pupil of mine (who had left the school two years previous.) in order to explore the issue of homosexuality, homophobia and briefly touch on stereotypical views in society.
The article don’t be so Gay: Challenging homophobic language by Erika L. Kirby is Professor of Communication Studies; she has been at Creighton since 1998. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in organizational communication, and she studies the everyday intersections of working and personal life, emphasizing how differing social identities (especially gender) assimilate into and collide with organizational structures. The following piece was originally published in 2008. The author’s main purpose is to educate the reader on the power of certain words. The author’s tone is truly concerned with how common homophobic slurs are use. The overall topic is to demonstrate what little thought we put in to our words.
In a recent podcast regarding a transgender high school student being forced to change in the nurse’s office instead of in the locker room with other students addressed the controversy regarding the treatment of members of our society who identify as LGBTQ. Throughout the podcast, multiple individuals have voiced support for the school’s decision to isolate the transgender student when changing. Do to the opinions voiced in the podcast regarding this case, I realized that the treatment of the high school student is only one example of the existing discrimination towards those who identify as LGBTQ. As such, I intend to explore the controversy of LGBTQ and our obligations that we have as members of the same society. Throughout this paper, I
The media tends to depict these intersectional friendships generally as gay men and straight women that are the best of friends who go shopping and clubbing together. Though this gender norm was common within the study, there are still other friendships that are regularly overlooked. The
Both gay and transgender individuals continue to face widespread discrimination in their workplace. They are being judged by factors that have no impact on how they perform and
Crosby Burns wrote “The Gay and Transgender Wage Gap” for Americanprogress.org, and the view of the article is clear from the beginning. “Unfortunately, many gay and transgender workers receive unequal pay for equal work in the United States today”
After World War II the U.S. government composed a list of those thought to be high security risks, Homosexuals were placed on this list, reason being that the U.S State Department thought they lack emotional stability contrary to heterosexual persons. Homosexuals were denied federal job applications, about 5,000 of them were discharged from the military and 400 were fired from government jobs because people may have suspected them as being homosexual.The FBI kept track of the lives of homosexuals. The mail they received, what businesses they
This paper will continue on, researching the societal change/acceptance in the gay and lesbian community as no longer being unorthodox and with the stigma coming from the gay community itself.
I found this article specifically interesting due to the controversies found in American history. Gay identity emerged from the rise of capitalism which allowed both men and women in families to go out and work on free labor. John D’Emilio writes, “In divesting the household of its economic independence and fostering the separation of sexuality from procreation, capitalism has created conditions that allow some men and women to organize a personal life around their erotic/emotional attraction to their own sex” (D'Emilio 470). With everyone being out of the house, family ties have “weakened”, leaving room to provide individuals with more freedom. Lesbians and gays were given the opportunity to express their emotional and sexual desires towards the other sex. Capitalism promoted happiness and pleasure. I agree with the workplace allowing families to have more freedom. My dad was unemployed for a period of time due to an injury caused at work. Throughout that period I felt almost suppressed due to him being around all the time, watching my every move. Maybe I’m being a little dramatic, but he always had this image of “daddy’s” perfect little girl and him being home, seeing what actually was going on always made me feel like his perception of me changed. I didn’t “change” though, I was just growing up. Once he went back to work I felt as though this huge
Because of this many of them arrive to work in fear of rejection or being ‘outed’ causing them to lose their job. As discovered by expert Cosby Burns “Discrimination and unequal treatment on the job inflicts significant economic harm on gay and transgender public-sector employees and their families.” (http://www.americanprogress.org) Many open homosexuals will be turned down for employment just because of their sexual orientation despite qualifications, even though it is completely irrelevant to their skills and no one’s business but their own.
The LGBT community has been silently suffering through generations. But in this generation, they are finally showing the world their voice. There have been many instances where young adults were denied their right to be who they are and now they are speaking out about the mistreatment. Even though the united states have begun to be more open about the LGBT community here is still more change it come. These changes can be explained through many sociological perspectives including: functionalist, conflict, symbolic interactionism and interactionism. Along with these perspective religion, norms and deviance all impact these individuals who are striving to be open about who they really are inside and out.