Employment Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation: Dimensions of Difference

Abstract

This chapter addresses employment discrimination based on sexual orientation by examining three main subjects: the experience and impacts of discrimination for gay and lesbian workers, public attitudes about gays and lesbians generally and gays and employment specifically, and collective contests over implementing anti-discrimination laws and policies to protect gay and lesbian workers. A large percentage of gay and lesbian workers fear employment discrimination or believe they have experienced it. There is some evidence of a wage penalty for being gay, at least for males. Public attitudes toward gays and lesbians have softened in recent decades but they still remain an unpopular minority. Most Americans believe homosexuality is morally wrong, and many view it as a chosen behavior. Despite these views, there is relatively high public support for gay and lesbian employment rights. In collective contests over public anti-discrimination measures, the gay rights movement faces off against a powerful countermovement with roots in the Christian Right. Gay and lesbian activists have had growing success in the private sector, convincing employers to adopt anti-discrimination policies and to extend spousal benefits to same-sex domestic partners. The chapter concludes with reflections on the differences between sexual orientation discrimination and other forms of employment discrimination, which point to the need to disaggregate the various forms of discrimination and identify the distinct causes and consequences of each type.