Sexual Orientation at Work

Fiona Colgan is a Senior Lecturer (Teaching and Research) in the Faculty of Business and Law at London Metropolitan University, UK. She has published on a range of topics in equality, diversity and employment relations. Her research on LGBT workplace issues can be found in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, Gender, Work and Organization and the HRM Journal. Nick Rumens is Professor of Organization Behaviour at Middlesex University London, UK. His research interests are LGBT sexualities in organization, workplace friendships and queer theory. He has recently published journal articles on these topics in Human Relations and Organization, and a book: Queer Company: friendship in the work lives of gay men (Ashgate, 2011).

"Sexual orientation, commonly included in the list of categories for which employees may not be discriminated against, has not always been discussed in great detail in organizational literature. This new volume addresses this need, presenting in 15 essays research from various areas of the study of sexual orientation in the workplace. These essays include information on how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual employees have fared at work in different industries and in different countries, as well as discussion of how discrimination of other categories of difference, such as age, class, ethnicity, and disability, intersects with issues of sexual orientation. There may not always be clear solutions to problems relating to sexual orientation at work, but managers and students of organization will benefit at least by learning about the complexity of these issues. The book's contributors include professors of business, law, and sociology from the UK and US, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and Austria, and their research examines various workplaces and employee groups, including schools, courts, the military, police services, airline cabin crews, unions, and young workers. Each chapter contains extensive references. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals." - F. Reitman, Pace University CHOICE, December 2014

• 1. Understanding Sexual Orientation at Work Fiona Colgan and Nick Rumens 2. Navigating Service and Sexuality in the Canadian, UK and US Militaries Michèle A. Bowring and Joanna Brewis 3. Reconsidering the Workplace Closet: the Experiences of Lesbian and Gay Teachers Catherine Connell 4. Courts as Workplaces for Sexual Orientation Minorities Todd Brower 5. Gay Men in the UK Police Services John Broomfield 6. ‘I Felt Like the Dad in the House’: Lesbians’ Wellbeing, Class and the Meanings of Paid Work Elizabeth McDermott 7. Organisational Life Within a UK ‘Good Practice Employer’: the Experiences of Black and Minority Ethnic and Disabled LGBT Employees Fiona Colgan 8. Working Across Differences in Sexuality and Age: Australian Stories of Young LGBQ Workers’ Experiences in Paid Employment Paul Willis 9. Working the Margins: Belonging and the Workplace for Lgbti in Post-apartheid South Africa Mikki van Zyl 10. From Cradle to Grave: the Lifecycle of Compulsory Heterosexuality in Turkey Mustafa Bilgehan Öztürk and Mustafa Özbilgin 11. Sexual Spaces and Gendered Dynamics: the Experiences of Male Cabin Crew Ruth Simpson 12. Is Your Workplace ‘Gay Friendly’? Current Issues and Controversies Nick Rumens 13. Moving from ‘Invisibility’ into National Statistics? Lesbians and the Socio-economic Sphere Roswitha Hofmann, Karin Schönpflug and Christine Klapeer 14. Sexual Politics and Queer Activism in the Australian Trade Union Movement Suzanne Franzway 15. Going Global: International Labour and Sexual Orientation Discrimination Gerald Hunt