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LGBTQ Young Adults’ Identity Disclosure in the Workplace: A Longitudinal Qualitative Analysis of Disclosure Intentions and Outcomes

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Abstract

Research shows that LGBTQ workers make strategic decisions about whether to disclose their sexual and gender identities to their colleagues as they assess potential costs and benefits. The present study sought to extend this literature by examining how they plan their identity disclosure in future workplace interactions and why they may diverge from their initial intentions. The analysis used longitudinal data from in-depth interviews, in which young LGBTQ workers reported disclosure intentions and their outcomes two years later. Participants often expressed intentions to disclose their LGBTQ identities while emphasizing the importance of identity disclosure for self-authenticity and the LGBTQ community’s visibility. Sometime over the course of the study, however, a substantial number of participants did not carry out their intentions because of unanticipated workplace constraints such as a lack of opportunities for personal conversations, an expectation for professionalism, and an absence of LGBTQ colleagues. However, participants who diverged from their initial disclosure intentions maintained an identity as an open LGBTQ person by emphasizing their willingness for disclosure.

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Because of the sensitive nature of the qualitative data from in-depth interviews, the data will not be shared to protect participants’ confidentiality.

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Notes

  1. These studies reference to each other and represent an integrated body of the literature, but individual studies vary with regard to what aspects of disclosure process they concentrate on and which subgroups of the LGBTQ population they target.

  2. We use the phrase, LGBTQ to describe the participants’ sexual and gender identities although some participants used other labels such as pansexual and flexible. We do so for two reasons. First, it is a commonly used phrase in academia, the general public, and the media, which includes anyone who is non-heterosexual and non-cisgender. Second, participants who identified as pansexual and flexible used the phrase LGBTQ (or similar phrases such as LGBT) while implying that they were part of the population.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Florida State University, 526 Bellamy Building, Tallahassee, FL, 32306-2270, USA

    Koji Ueno, Rachael Dominguez, Skyler Bastow & Jason V. D’Amours

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  1. Koji Ueno
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  2. Rachael Dominguez
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  3. Skyler Bastow
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  4. Jason V. D’Amours
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Correspondence to Koji Ueno.

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Ueno, K., Dominguez, R., Bastow, S. et al. LGBTQ Young Adults’ Identity Disclosure in the Workplace: A Longitudinal Qualitative Analysis of Disclosure Intentions and Outcomes. Arch Sex Behav 53, 1327–1341 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-024-02807-7

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