- FINDINGS
- Other Workplace Issues
- Most heterosexuals do not share the view that being openly
gay or lesbian would be detrimental to a lawyer's career
Interestingly, a substantial majority of the heterosexual respondents (72%-78.1%) do not
believe that any of the actions or communications referred to above making known a lawyer's
sexual orientation would be detrimental to a gay or lesbian lawyer's career (Lawyer Survey,
Table 15). Similarly, the overwhelming majority of the employer respondents report that such
actions and communications would have “no effect” on that lawyer's career. (Employer Survey,
Table F.)
23 The disparity in belief between the individual heterosexual respondents and the
employer respondents, on the one hand, and the lesbian and gay respondents, on the other, as to
the consequences of a lawyer's being openly gay or lesbian might suggest that the fear of making
one's sexual orientation known in the legal workplace may not be as well-founded as some gays
and lesbians apprehend. However, from the vitriolic comments made by a number of the
respondents to the Surveys (
see Section II. F, below), it is clear that there is still resistance in
many quarters to a bias-free workplace, and that it is not unreasonable for gay and lesbian lawyers to be concerned about their sexual orientation being known.
24 In any event, the disparity
in belief surely suggests that more could be done in many legal workplaces to communicate to
lesbian and gay lawyers that sexual orientation is not and will not be the basis for adverse
workplace and professional decisions. One gay respondent commented on just this point:
The widespread belief among gay and lesbian attorneys is that great risk accompanies the
disclosure of one's sexual orientation in the workplace. Time and time again I have heard
homosexual attorneys and law students in search of employment express concern about
the possibility of adverse decision making should their orientation become known to their
prospective employer. Most gay and lesbian attorneys I know are not out at their jobs,
for fear of adverse consequences. Most, too, are reluctant to place on their resumes any
information about professional or personal activities that may reveal their sexual
orientation. I myself have routinely left such information off my resume. Thus, there is a
strong perception that the average legal workplace is likely to be a hostile environment
for an open gay or lesbian attorney. Changing that perception is the job of employers,
who must make more concerted efforts (through domestic partner accommodations, more
sensitive recruiting efforts, etc.) to alleviate the common fears of gays and lesbians. App.
C, Comment 277 (lesbian/gay respondent)
- Significant numbers of the individual heterosexual respondents (37.6%) and of the
employer respondents (29 out of 108, or 26.9%) did say, however, that it would be “harmful” to
a gay or lesbian lawyer's career for that lawyer to let clients know of his or her sexual
orientation. (Lawyer Survey, Table 15; Employer Survey, Table F.)
- A similar disparity in belief about the cons equences of a lawyer's being openly gay or
lesbian was found in the Los Angeles County Bar survey. “The Los Angeles study suggests that
non-gay participants think the consequences of coming out are less significant than gay
participants do. Because heterosexual participants create the consequences of coming out, this
finding might be read to provide comfort to gay lawyers. Nonetheless, a rational lawyer might
not rely on statistics alone as a basis for risking a job or even a career. The cruel quality of fear
is that it prevails simply by existing.” William B. Rubenstein, Some Reflections on the Study of
Sexual Orientation Bias in the Legal Profession, 8 UCLA WOMEN'S L.J., 379, 395 (1998).
