Sexuality, Work, and Social Exclusion

Sexuality, Work, and Social Exclusion Name Institution Sexuality, Work, and Social Exclusion Abstract Despite increased efforts by the liberation movement to create awareness and protect LGBTQ rights, many LGBTQ individuals continue to experience widespread social exclusion which affects both their social and work life. This paper examines existing literature on social exclusion and discrimination of the LGBTQ community at work and in their communities and highlights some of the consequences of social exclusion. They include poor mental health, social disconnect, low work productivity, and loss of employment. The literature review reveals that protection of LGBTQ rights is more complex in developing countries and some recommendations are provided to help address the issues faced by the LGBTQ community. Table of Contents TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u Introduction PAGEREF _Toc4594711 \h 4Background PAGEREF _Toc4594712 \h 5Objective PAGEREF _Toc4594713 \h 6Literature Review PAGEREF _Toc4594714 \h 7Analysis and Discussion PAGEREF _Toc4594715 \h 10Sexuality and Social Life PAGEREF _Toc4594716 \h 10Sexuality and Work Life PAGEREF _Toc4594717 \h 11Summary and Recommendations PAGEREF _Toc4594718 \h 13References PAGEREF _Toc4594719 \h 15 Introduction The LGBTQ community experiences challenges ranging from health issues to social connections due to their sexuality and gender identity. Despite the progress being made in the fight for LGBTQ rights, many people still fear coming out about their sexuality because the reality is that society has not fully accepted LGBTQ individuals. In fact, this rejection or fear of rejection has driven many LGBTQ people into self-harm and suicide because in most cases, these individuals struggle with keeping their identity a secret from their loved ones and the society as a whole (McDermott, Hughes, & Rawlings, 2017). The situation is even worse in developing countries where LGBTQ are viewed as a disgrace to their families and communities. The individuals in these countries are forced to hide their sexuality and gender identity so as to avoid a confrontation with society and lawmakers. As noted by Luiz and Spicer (2019), being a member of the LGBTQ community in some developing countries is termed as socially unacceptable and immoral, while in some cases, it is viewed as illegal, prompting punishment by law. As such, the LGBTQ community is still experiencing discrimination and while some of the prejudices are socially constructed, they have even informed the law that governs and protect the rights of citizens in different parts of the world. The type of discrimination experienced by the LGBTQ community has affected the core part of their lives, especially in terms of employment and social inclusion within the society. The level of intolerance towards LGBTQ individuals affect which social events or gatherings these individuals can attend and far more, the type of organizations they can work for when their sexuality is well known. A background and a literature review on the issue of LGBTQ social and work exclusion is provided as follows. Background Social exclusion is a term that has been used to refer to discrimination against certain members of society (Doan, 2015). This discrimination is informed either by law or social prejudices against people who are different from the majority of society. Among the LGBTQ community, social exclusion has been a common phenomenon since time immemorial, yet it forms a necessary part of the debate of LGBTQ rights (Doan, 2015). Social exclusion has resulted in the denial of rights such as marriages, adoption, employment, and social interactions among the LGBTQ community. The LGBTQ community is blamed by some societies for failure to adhere to the mainstream society’s values and belief, and is therefore socially excluded. Lack of rights protecting these individuals usually worsens the situation and even in the presence of such rights, society seems to still exclude them because it takes time to embrace social changes. People in the LGBTQ community have experienced immense discrimination by members of society due to their sexuality. The liberation movement and the awareness created in the efforts to protect gay rights have made some progress, although the LGBTQ community continues to face challenges. In fact, their challenges begin quite early as they try to find out who they are and where they belong in society. Acceptance within society is very imperative not only to the LGBTQ community but to every individual. As revealed by Lewis, Flores, Haider-Markel, Miller, Tadlock, and Taylor (2017), the ground has shifted when it comes to the degree of acceptance of the LGBTQ community because of changes in human rights legislation. For instance, the same sex-marriages are legally acceptable in a number of countries, which reveals that the public is becoming more accepting of this community. In the United States, there are laws that protect the LGBTQ community from discrimination in employment and exclusion from public accommodation (Lewis, Flores, Haider-Markel, Miller, Tadlock, & Taylor, 2017). Such laws are supposed to make the work and social life of individuals from the LGBTQ community more inclusive. When the degree of acceptance is high, inclusion becomes natural and the LGBTQ community is able to lead a positive social and work life. A lot of health, social and other challenges have been linked to the exclusion of the LGBTQ community in society. A number of factors contribute to these challenges, hence affecting the social and work life of the LGBTQ. Most communities have strong religious foundations that condemn any sexual orientation that is contrary to the traditional ‘normal’ sexuality (Higa, et al., 2014). Thus, the LGBTQ community becomes excluded from religious places and activities as they are seen as going against the faith teachings. Being referred to as sinners just because they have a different orientation from the majority of society only strengthens the exclusion because even some employers use faith as a basis of discrimination against LGBTQ individuals. Further, LGBTQ individuals have had to endure physical and verbal harassment from members of their community (Higa, et al., 2014). This has created many unsafe spaces for these individuals within their communities, thus reducing their social interactions. Throwing of anti-gay comments is common especially towards people who publicly display homosexual behaviors whether it is in school, workplace or in public places, despite the presence of laws and policies to protect LGBTQ individuals in some parts of the world. The kind of stigmatization experienced by LGBTQ individuals give rise to feelings of isolation (McDermott, Hughes, & Rawlings, 2017; Higa, et al., 2014), which basically reduces the chances of social interaction and productivity for these individuals. Objective The objective of this paper is to examine and analyze how sexuality affects the social and work life of LGBTQ individuals. In specific, the paper focuses on exclusion as an outcome of being a member of the LGBTQ community and how their experiences vary from those of individuals considered as normal by society. An exploration of both the developing and developed countries will be taken into account in this paper to determine how different the experiences of the LGBTQ community in these two worlds are. Lastly, this paper also aims at providing some recommendations on how the life of the LGBTQ community can be improved by minimizing social exclusion. Literature Review Part of the struggle for LGBTQ individuals is trying to find a place in society where they feel accepted. Ghabrial (2016), in a study on LGBTQ from minority groups, reveal that LGBTQ individuals feel disconnected from their ethnic or racial communities due to their sexual orientation. As a result, they seek out communities that affirm the individuals’ sexual identity so that they feel like part of a social group. Further, the disconnect also affects their participation in community or family events because they fear exclusion and discrimination due to their sexual identity (Ghabrial, 2016). The fear to participate in community/family activities is based mainly on their past experience of exclusion. The issue of social exclusion also affects LGBTQ individual’s ability to disclose their sexuality to families. Ghabrial (2016) notes that individuals, especially from LGBTQ intolerant communities, are usually threatened by their parents and are warned against portraying any homosexual behaviors. The threats come in the form of death threats or being disowned by their families. The situation is the same for older LGBTQ individuals, especially those who come out after they have already started their own families the “normal” way. They have also had to make hard choices such as staying away from their family for the sake of their mental and physical well-being (Barrett, Whyte, Comfort, Lyons, & Crameri, 2015). In fact, most of these individuals have been excluded or cut-off from their social circles once they disclose their sexuality because other straight people do not want to be seen as supporting them. In other cases, they are excluded from their social circles because some people in mainstream society think being LGBTQ is contagious, hence the need to alienate themselves from the LGBTQ community (Barrett, Whyte, Comfort, Lyons, & Crameri, 2015). Part of this can be attributed to the lack of knowledge among some members of society that being an LGBTQ individual is not a choice. The LGBTQ community is forced to rely solely on each other rather than expand their social networks to include heterosexual individuals (Barrett, Whyte, Comfort, Lyons, & Crameri, 2015). Such a closed social circle implies that the individual has no one to turn to in case of differences or break-up within the circle. Other than the social life, the LGBTQ community also experiences challenges when it comes to work and workplace treatment. Sears and Mallory (2014) note that there has been extensive discrimination against the LGBTQ community in the workplace despite more research showing that there is no relationship between work performance and the sexuality of an individual. One survey revealed...