This brief chapter on the issues facing
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)1 seniors in the workplace is a
reflection based upon my 40-year career working as an educator on
LGBT concerns. I’m not an academician, and so this chapter is
somewhat different from other chapters in this book.
When approaching this topic, you work
with the assumption that there is a war for talent in the workplace
that somewhat evens the playing field. In theory, companies cannot
afford to lose the best and brightest workers because their
workplace is unwelcoming. To attract and retain highly qualified
people and to maintain a competitive edge, most companies seek to
create conditions in which the diversity of their workforce is
celebrated and fully tapped. That should mean that older lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender people are seen as having the
potential to be among the company’s best and brightest employees,
thus increasing the odds of profitability.
That said, the working conditions for
LGBT employees of all ages can vary in the same company, depending
upon the mentality of middle management. When the middle manager,
influenced by any number of variables such as religious beliefs,
familiarity with gay and transgender people, race, and gender,
among other factors, does not ascribe to his or her company’s
values, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender worker is
vulnerable to increased risk of harassment.
When considering harassment, or other
hostile working conditions, the reader needs to allow for the
possibility of the worst behavior in the workplace , such as
physical and emotional abuse, but he or she is encouraged to focus
more on problems created by unconscious incompetence. Excluding
examples of termination, hiring discrimination, and overt
hostility, the majority of LGBT people in the workplace complain
about feeling isolated because of their sexual orientation or
gender identity or expression. Fear of isolation is what keeps many
LGBT people in the closet. The isolation is created by the lack of
social interactions with colleagues, especially conversations
having to do with personal life.
One of the challenges in creating a
clear picture of workplace issues for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender seniors is that the culture is changing so quickly that
the picture will never be complete or reliable. For instance,
marriage equality is now the law of the land, some politicians
insist they will continue to resist it. Though progress is being
made in state-by-state passage of non-discrimination ordinances,
there are now efforts to pass statewide legislation that grants
religious liberty to employees to discriminate on the basis of
their personal beliefs. Eventually, the Federal Employment
Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) will be passed, but probably not for
many years. The current fear of gender diversity on the part of
many members of Congress keeps the legislation locked up. That will
change, or the legislation will change, and it will be passed, but
it will still not cover housing and public accommodation, which
might have an impact on a discussion of LGBT workplace issues. If a
gay senior faces discrimination in housing, is it possible for him
or her to live near the workplace?
We are aware of the quickly changing
culture, which in the Western world is becoming more comfortable
with the full range of sexual orientation and gender expression,
and we are aware of the increase in protective legislation. But,
understanding the challenges faced by senior lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender workers means being aware of the rapidly
paced changes in language and attitudes in LGBT communities. When I
first began working on this issue, the focus was on gay people. It
then became about lesbian and gay people. Bisexuality was soon
added to the topic. Then, transgender issues became part of the
discussion. Not long ago, the organization that was originally
called the National Gay Task Force changed its name to include
letters in the acronym to accommodate the issues of people who
identify as queer, questioning, intersex, and asexual. Further, the
new preferred term for transgender people is gender diverse,
and the new preferred term for transitioning (the process of
physically becoming one’s true self) is realignment. Although I
have been familiar with these issues for decades, I need to
constantly update my educational resources on the topic because of
these changes in language and attitudes.
What began as a workplace concern in
the United States, with me introducing the topic as a business
issue in 1985, is now being discussed throughout the world because
of the multi-national identity of most major corporations. Creating
an office culture that is welcoming to LGBTQQIA people is not just
important in New York, but also in Mumbai. Wall Street banks
brought me to India, Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore to
train their employees on gay and transgender issues. That work
has rapidly expanded throughout those countries and many others.
Understanding LGBT senior workplace issues requires familiarity
with the cultures of those individual countries, especially as they
relate to age, sexual orientation, and gender expression
diversity.
Gay and transgender discrimination has
become an issue of importance to the United Nations. The Roman
Catholic Church is said to be softening its approach because of the
statement by Pope Francis, “Who am I to judge?” Gay issues are now
part of the discussion on where the Olympics will be held. Economic
sanctions are being imposed on countries that discriminate against
gay people. The words “lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender”
were all used by President Obama in his State of the Union address
in 2015.
Another component of the discussion is
the very important shift in approaching the transgender topic. The
number of people in a society who identify as transsexual or as
transgender is very small, but the number of people who are
discriminated against because of the diversity of their gender
expression is huge. Heterosexual men who are considered effeminate
and heterosexual women who are considered masculine can experience
more discrimination on the job than a masculine gay man or a
feminine lesbian. What is considered acceptable behavior or
expression for males and females varies widely from culture to
culture. Hand holding by heterosexual men is common in India but
not in Great Britain.
One more consideration when analyzing
workplace concerns for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender
people is the differences between the individuals. Some LGBT people
are highly qualified and are likely to be accommodated easily.
People who bring in money are highly valued despite their age. If
the senior gay person in question is black, Latino, female,
foreign, Muslim, economically challenged, or has a disability, he
or she will generally fair less well than a gay white Christian
male, at least in the United States. If the transgender person in
question is transsexual, and passes easily because he or she
fits neatly in the male or female box and is physically attractive,
he or she will fare much better than the person, who after
realignment, does not look attractive or is easily identifiable as
a man or woman. Cross-dressing men have a much more difficult time
than cross-dressing women, partly because of sexism, and partly
because they sometimes do not pass easily as a female. If the
person’s appearance is considered by others as “peculiar,” it is
more likely that he or she will suffer discrimination in the
workplace.
Realtors tell us that the primary
factor in selling a house is location, location, location. My
message to companies is that the only reliable way to create a
workplace that feels safe to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender people of all ages is education, education, education.
Most people want to be supportive but do not know how. They do not
start conversations with gay or transgender people because they
fear making a mistake, and so they keep quiet. The silence is
interpreted as hostility or at least disapproval. Education through
diversity training creates more competent and confident allies and
lowers the chances of unwelcoming behaviors. In addition to
continuing education, a company that wants to diminish the chances
of discriminating against LGBT seniors needs to nurture an LGBT
employee resource group that will help the company stay ahead of
the game, in properly adjusting to the changes in the culture, the
rules, and the issues.
The following essay is an updated
newspaper column/Internet blog that I wrote, which was reprinted by
groups working with lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
seniors.
Essay on LGBT Seniors—No Money, No Work, and You’re Old
The dream is recurring. I’m in a panic
because I don’t have a job, and I question if I’ve ever worked. I’m
sure that I’m too old to find meaningful employment, but I need
money. I eventually become conscious that I’m dreaming, and I
remind myself that I’ve had a personally rewarding career and that
I don’t need to work.
Perhaps the dream is prompted by my
struggle with the idea of retirement, or having been fired for
being gay at age 26, or almost always working for myself, or maybe
it is because it took many years before my father and mother
accepted that educating others on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and
transgender (LGBT) issues was a real job. It is a bad dream that
takes me a while to shake.
Yet, for many people my age and
younger, there is no waking from the bad dream, and there is no
shaking off the emotional toll it takes. Being unemployed and
needing money are the most pressing issues of their lives. They
fear running out of money before they die and ending up being
dependent on others to survive.
The people who live these nightmares
most often are older workers who, regardless of their sexual
orientation or gender identity, have watched the depletion of their
savings and the diminished value of their skills. They have either
lost, or fear they soon will lose, their jobs because of profit
loss, automation, or their inability to keep pace with information
technology.
If these unemployed older people are
lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, their situation may feel
more precarious. In addition to feeling less needed, they may also
feel less wanted. If they are closeted, they may be seen as lacking
the fortitude to face the challenges of the ever-changing workplace
. Closeted LGBT people, I suspect, are rarely unknown and often
disparaged as unable to lead. If they are out of the closet, they
may fear that being out will be a factor in their not being kept or
re-hired. Despite how many corporate promises are made about not
discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender
identity, many people feel that the promise only counts in the war
for talent when the gay or transgender employee is seen as
exceptional in what he or she does. Additionally, most states allow
for such workplace discrimination.
Until the ENDA passes Congress and is
signed into law by the President, LGBT people can be discriminated
against in employment in several states. Even if ENDA passes, gay
and gender diverse-people can be denied housing and public
accommodation. Attempts to pass laws that guarantee religious
liberty make employment rights for LGBT people even more
tenuous.
Discrimination against gay, lesbian,
bisexual, and gender diverse people in the workplace ranges
from physical violence to silence. Depending upon the location of
the workplace, and the age, race, gender, religious affiliation,
and education of fellow employees and managers, the workplace
harassment can be unrelenting and unchecked, or more a matter of
subtle social isolation because of cultural incompetence. Without
protective legislation, LGBT people, including seniors, suffer
higher rates of unemployment and income inequality.
Transgender people are particularly
affected by a lack of protections. Ninety percent of this group
reports discrimination in the workplace. These individuals are
twice as likely as the general population to be unemployed and four
times as likely to live at the poverty level.
According to the State of Georgia
Department of Labor (2012),
4.7 % of the workforce is 65 years of age or older. Pew
Research (Drake 2013) speculates
that by 2022, 31.9 % of people 65–74 will still be working. In
the private sector, 6.48 per cent of those people will be LGBT
seniors, according to the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation
Law and Public Policy (2011) of 65 in order to make ends meet. A
significant percentage of those people are LGBT. Questions that
need to be asked are, will these LGBT seniors have
legal protections against discrimination on the job, and what
unique challenges do they face because of their sexual orientation
or gender diversity?
Many older people would like to
retire, but what if their nest egg has been depleted because the
value of their house has depreciated, they have had unexpected
health care costs, or their pension was cut—they have no
alternative but to find work. But what work? How does the
55-year-old gay man find work after his money-making “companion”
dies and leaves the bulk of his assets to his children and
grandchildren? The single lesbian near retirement is not seen as
being as needy of steady income as the man who has dependents. If
she is let go in downsizing, how does she find work to make up the
lost income? And, what happens to an older person who is
transsexual? Where does the average, senior, transgender person
find work unless he or she is extraordinary at what he or she
does?
The old career development resource
book, What Color is Your
Parachute (Bolles 2015), and
every similar book published since, tells us that our best chance
of finding a job is knowing someone who can help. Job hunters are
encouraged to make lists of the people they know who might be able
and willing to pull strings or make introductions. What good
connections do older LGBT people have? What if they have pulled
back from straight family and friends because they wanted to be out
and proud? Are their gay or straight friends comfortable putting
their reputations on the line by making a call or giving them a
letter of recommendation? Will the names of younger lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender employees be on the list of possible
connections? Do younger LGBT employees relate to, or even like,
their older counterparts? Are corporate LGBT Employee Resource
Groups (ERGs), headed by younger workers, aware of the struggles of
Baby Boom gay and transgender employees, and do they see such
issues as worthy of their attention, and of inclusion in their
limited budget?
In the corporate world, finding allies
who understand and support the specific issues of older LGBT
persons is critical to having their needs championed. While older
workers, in general, can feel alienated by the attitudes of younger
workers, it can be particularly disenfranchising for a
senior gay worker. To hear gay worker to hear the
offensive word “queer” used as a proud self-description by younger
LGBT employees, and to see that there is no awareness on the part
of youth of the many sacrifices that have been made to create such
a welcoming work environment for them, can prompt senior workers to
pull away from ERGs. Younger workers can be seen as ungrateful
upstarts who are competing for the jobs needed to secure the older
worker’s sustainability. Older employees can be seen as stubborn
and out of touch with cultural advances and as obstacles to
promotions.
If older LGBT workers hope to secure
the support of younger LGBT workers, attention must be given to
changing attitudes. Older transgender workers are sometimes seen by
many younger transgender job seekers, not as pioneers, but as sad
vestiges of the time when people felt forced to pick one gender
over the other. Today’s youth are far more fluid in their queer
identity and feel less the need for full transition surgery.
Closeted older, lesbian, gay, and bisexual workers can be seen by
some younger LGB employees as roadblocks to the success of equal
treatment in the workplace, especially in regional offices and
foreign countries. Focusing attention on the issues facing LGBT
seniors requires corporate ERGs to ask seniors questions about the
challenges they face and about how best to be allies.
Outside the workplace , unemployed gay
and transgender seniors, like their heterosexual peers, can find
support in their search for work from AARP, the American
Association of Retired People. AARP has a 17 % success rate in
finding work for its members. But unemployed older LGBT people can
also get training and guidance from SAGE, Services and Advocacy for
LGBT Elders , a national organization with regional affiliates.
They have a 25 % success rate in helping senior clients find
employment.
That still leaves 75 % of the
LGBT seniors who have sought help from SAGE, and the many more who
have not heard of, or tried to get such help, living daily in the
nightmare that only occasionally visits me in my dreams. If young
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activists are looking for
the next cause to take on after marriage equality, the bread and
butter issues of LGBT seniors is an issue needing immediate
attention.
Learning Exercises
1.
What factors go into helping LGBT
seniors remain in the workforce? Who is likely to do so and
why?
2.
What factors prevent LGBT seniors from
entering the workforce? How can these be surmounted?
3.
What factors do you take in
consideration in addressing the needs of the older LGBT
employee or those seeking employment?
Experiential Exercises
1.
Describe your experience working with
an older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender employee. Was there a
particular situation that occurred within the workplace setting
that you remember? If yes, why?
2.
If you know a senior who is working
and LGBT, ask him or her to describe a situation in his or her work
where he or she was treated well and where he or she was
treated poorly.
References
Bolles, R. N. (2015).
What color is your parachute? A
practical manual for job-hunters and career-changers. New
York: Random House LLC.
Drake, B. (2013). Number of
older Americans in the workforce is on the rise. Facttank: Pew
Research Center. Retrieved 20 February 2015 at
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/01/07/number-of-older-americans-in-the-workforce-is-on-the-rise/.
Georgia Department of Labor.
(2012). Workforce statistics. Retrieved on 25 February 2015 at
www.dol.state.ga.us/.
Footnotes
1
While I will occasionally use the
acronym LGBT in writing and speaking, I believe it is preferable to
write and say the words lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender.
These four words represent four distinct communities, each with its
own concerns. The LGBT acronym enables people not to say the words,
diminishes the difference in issues, and is often confusing to the
reader or listener. “Is it a sandwich?”.