Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, Vol. 18, No. 1, March 2006 (
C 2006) DOI: 10.1007/s10672-005-9000-9

Introduction to Special Issue

Editor’s Introduction – Special Issue on Sexual Orientation/Identity Issues in the Workplace

Published online: 23 April 2006

What a difference a decade makes!! I just finished perusing the program for the Academy of Management Annual Meeting for 1996. There was virtually nothing on the program that dealt with sexual orientation/identity issues in the workplace. At that point not only were sexual orientation issues not on the radar screen of most Academy members and/or seen as important to study, but management academicians who did choose to do research in this area were generally assuming significant risks. One colleague of mine, who had just completed his PhD at that time and wanted to do research in this area, was strongly discouraged from doing so by his dissertation committee chair and other mentors. He was told that such research was “not mainstream or valued” and that doing such research early in his career, without the protection of tenure, was “unquestionably career suicide.” At that time, those interested in doing research on sexual orientation/identity issues were largely confined to the “Women In Management” (WIM) interest group. Slowly, within this group a strong support network was formed. Each year a greater number of individuals tested the waters by submitting and presenting their work on sexual orientation at the Academy. Shortly thereafter WIM changed its name to “Gender and Diversity in Organizations” (GDO) and became a full-fledged division. Not only were the numbers of submission increasing but the quality of research being undertaken related to sexual orientation/identity began to be noticed. Three years ago the unthinkable happened; a paper whose research was focused on gay bathhouses won a Best Paper Award at the Academy of Management Conference. The even bigger shock was that it was awarded in the Organization and Management Theory Division. The authors, Bryant Hudson and Gerardo Okhuysen, dual-handedly pushed the frontiers of sexual orientation research forward with their creative, high-quality and very risky research. In a recent conversation, I told Bryant that this work and its recognition are going to be regarded as a critical turning point in the demarginilization of sexual orientation/identity research within the academic management circles. By 2005, the program of the Academy of Management Annual Meeting contained a very wide range of sessions devoted to sexual orientation/identity issues; either grouped together on their own or fully integrated within the other more traditional research domains. Upon seeing the program and also hearing that Group and Organization Management, on whose Editorial Board I have served for a number of years, was planning on doing a special issue on sexual orientation/identity issues in the workplace, I prepared a call for papers to 1 C 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 0892-7545/06/0300-0001/0


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Introduction to Special Issue

do a parallel special issue in Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, obviously with a different focus, given the distinct editorial missions and domain areas of the two journals. Within days, my e-mailbox was overflowing with inquiries about possible submissions and their suitability. The call yielded a significant number of submissions, the best of which are contained within this special issue. I’d like to introduce these fine articles to you in tandem with the framework of this special issue. The lead article, “Impact of Same-Sex Harassment and Gender Role Stereotypes on Title VII Protection for Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Employees,” explains how Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which does not expressly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation/identity, has been interpreted by some courts in a manner that might allow inclusion of such discrimination to be covered under the statute. However, the second article, “Balancing Hate Speech, Professional Ethics and First Amendment Rights: A Case of and from the Judiciary,” argues that even when a jurisdiction finds that a statute provides express or implied protection against discrimination, members of the judiciary and their attitudes toward sexual orientation/identity can influence outcomes that employees receive relative to their right to be free from discrimination. The third article, “Beyond the Legal Environment: How Stigma Influences Invisible Identity Groups In the Workplace,” reinforces this point with the premise that unlike many other salient dimensions of diversity/difference, sexual orientation/identity is generally invisible and often can remain that way by employee choice. The authors explore the intersection of invisible identity, stigmatization and the law, finding that the law is not enough, as stigma can not merely be legislated away. Building on this, the fourth article, “Non-Discrimination Policies and Sexual Identity Disclosure: Do They Make A Difference in Employee Outcomes?”, explores the relationship between employer non-discrimination policies and disclosure of sexual orientation/identity vis a vis various personal and work-related outcomes. While this research supports some previous findings, it also reports some less-expected findings and presents a well-conceived agenda for future research in the area. Finally, the last article, “Can Diversity Training Discriminate? Backlash to Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Diversity Initiatives,” considers the actual unintended consequences that can accompany diversity training related to sexual orientation/identity issues. Backlash, particularly relative to the religious beliefs and doctrines of co-workers, can cause disruption in the workplace and possible charges of discrimination based on religious beliefs. I would like to thank the authors of these articles for their fine work and their support of Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal. I would also like to thank you, the reader, for your interest in this special issue and hope that if you are not already a regular reader of ERRJ that you not only become one but consider ERRJ as a publication outlet for your own work. Jeffrey A. Mello, Guest Editor Department of Management College of Business and Economics Towson University 8000 York Road Towson, Maryland 21252