Struggles of authenticity : gays' and lesbians' experiences of being closeted in the workplace during transition to constitutional equality in South Africa

Abstract

This case study aims to explore the experiential world of gays and lesbians who keep their sexual orientation secret from colleagues and superiors in the workplace. The study also considers the impact of the transition to constitutional equality for gays and lesbians in South Africa on the participants' occupational lives. Qualitative data were acquired from two sets of in-depth semi-structured interviews, conducted with four subjects in 1994 and again with the same subjects in 1996. Themes derived through phenomenological analysis are considered in the light of existential-analytic psychological theory. The exploration reveals that, within patriarchal work environments that remain homoprejudiced despite the constitutional provision for gay and lesbian equality, openness about sexual orientation requires considerable courage. Findings suggest that in these environments, gays and lesbians may be classified as dirty, diseased others. Through discriminatory acts of distortion, patriarchy attempts to dominate such others, and, with ultimate contempt, even to deny their existence. Gays and lesbians internalise general societal prejudice and discrimination against them. In their response to homoprejudice in the workplace. participants employed elaborate measures to safeguard themselves and pass as heterosexual. Their passing elicited guilt feelings, an implicit recognition of inauthenticity. and other indicators of neurosis, such as increased loneliness, isolation and feelings of estrangement. These manifestations were the consequence of participants' distortive attempts to create security where none could be guaranteed because of the contingent nature of human existence. To the extent that their concealment failed to bring security and reduce neurotic anxjety, it could be considered a flight from freedom. Passing left participants feeling invisible and inaudible, so that they existed as counterfeit images of themselves in inauthentic relationships with their colleagues. In this way, gays and lesbians as a group already isolated contribute to their own marginalisation. Nevertheless. constitutional guarantees in some cases increased feelings of power and security in that legal recourse had become possible in the event of intolerable, blatant discrimination. It is clear that the victory of constitutional equality was merely the beginning of a long struggle towards achieving this equality in practice. The recognition of equality grants gays and lesbians freedom, but also implies responsibility to advance courageously. The opportunities offered by the Constitution therefore represent a call to authenticity.