Organizing Sexualities, Organized Inequalities: Lesbians and Gay Men in Public Service Occupations

Abstract

This article examines the experiences of lesbians and gay men who are employed in a variety of public service occupations in the UK, drawing upon interview material gathered during a broader research project on lesbian and gay self‐organization within the public sector trade union UNISON. It forges pathways through hitherto unexplored territories by concentrating upon career trajectories beyond the closet, arguing that those who dare to come out and proud in public sector workplaces will tread a precarious tightrope between being out and pursued for their specialist knowledges and out and persecuted for their presumed perversities. Although many public sector employers have endorsed equal opportunities policies which include lesbians and gay men, and although these have been vital in alleviating some forms of discrimination, it is argued that such measures have been incapable of resolving the more profound double‐binds etched into our organizations, whereby sexualities are reproduced as inequalities, while sexuality itself is eclipsed from the organization's self‐consciousness. It is claimed that in virtue of their unique positions and perspectives, lesbian and gay employees have become the carriers of the sexual consciousness of their organizations. However, it is also acknowledged that the political agenda on lesbian and gay rights will not remedy deeper ignorances and broader injustices, unless the heterosexual majority and other non‐heterosexual minorities are also parties to these debates.

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