Thanks to Penelope Trunk for sharing a great post from Nina Smith over at Queercents.  In recent years, I have met many gay colleagues who felt more comfortable being out of the closet at work, then with, say, their parents.  Smith maintains that gays who are out at work have stronger careers.  She herself developed a closer and more genuine relationship with her boss after the older woman asked her outright and Smith answered honestly. 

Says Selisse Berry, Executive Director of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates:  “We know that when employees bring their whole lives to work, they are happier, more productive, and have decreased rate of turnover.”  This makes sense because it’s hard to come across as a “normal” when people don’t know a thing about your personal life. Or worse yet, you get pegged as the person defined by work and nothing else.

David Stocum, a Life Coach who specializes in working with members of the gay community writes, “Among the benefits of coming out is a potentially more pleasant environment with less stress and more mental energy to devote to your work. You also are less likely to have resentment and workplace conflict. All these factors combine to yield overall improved job performance, which you could expect would lead to more steady career growth, better advancement opportunities and a more successful career, not to mention the improvements in mental and physical health.”

According to Smith, proposed federal legislation aims to end discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, but laws with the best intentions are limited in by realities of the workplace. Discrimination from employers and repercussions from homophobic co-workers are complex and slippery to squash with laws; social acceptance among colleagues will remain a personal journey.

And what happens when colleagues see the real you? Kirk Snyder, author of The G Quotient writes, “The more people who get to know us as good neighbors, talented co-workers and company leaders, the less homophobia there will be in the world. Bigotry of any kind is rooted in fear of the unknown, so by coming out and being ourselves, we are changing the world.”