On the job and in the closet

Canada may be viewed as one of the world’s most inclusive societies, but a study released Wednesday suggests many gay employees in Canada still face barriers when it comes to career advancement.
The study by the research organization Catalyst is the first of its kind in Canada. Its main findings were based on survey responses from 232 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Canadian employees.
Less than half of respondents said their manager and colleagues are very comfortable with LGBT employees. Fewer than one in ten thought their manager and co-workers are very informed about issues facing gay workers.
The key barriers LGBT workers face at work are discriminatory behaviour, a lack of awareness on the issue, and exclusion from networking opportunities with others, Catalyst said.
“Workplace barriers to career advancement for LGBT employees in Canadian organizations persist,” the report said. “Women and men reported exclusion from the ‘old boys’ club’ and were acutely aware of the career limitations of exclusion from important networks.”
About 12 per cent of gay women say they are completely in the closet at work, versus 5 per cent of men.
This year also marks 40 years since homosexuality was decriminalized in Canada. In 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.
The work environment is far more inclusive now than even a decade ago. But many workers remain fearful about the repercussions of coming out of the closet, said Darrell Schuurman, Toronto-based manager of market development for VIA Rail and board member of the Canadian Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
“We all think that Canada is such a progressive place, and it really is relative to other countries, but are we there yet completely? No,” he said. “In terms of feeling comfortable and open, there’s still a lot more that can be done” within the workplace. See On the job and in the closet
Globe and Mail

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Court lets private schools expel lesbians

The state Supreme Court left intact Wednesday a lower-court ruling that said a private religious high school wasn’t covered by California civil rights law and could expel students it believed were lesbians.

Over Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar’s dissent, the court denied review of an appeal by parents of two girls who were expelled from a high school in Riverside County. A lawyer for the parents said the ruling, which is binding on trial courts statewide, would allow private schools to discriminate against students on any basis they chose, including sex and religion.

The girls were juniors at California Lutheran High School in the town of Wildomar when the principal, Gregory Bork, called them to his office in September 2005 and questioned them separately about their sexual orientation, after another student reported postings on their MySpace pages.

Bork suspended the girls based on their answers, and the school’s directors expelled them a month later. The girls, who later graduated from another high school, have not been identified and have not discussed their sexual orientation, said their parents’ attorney, Kirk Hanson.

The parents sued under the Unruh Act, a 1959 state law that forbids discrimination by businesses. It was amended in 2005 to include bias based on sexual orientation and someone else’s perception of sexual orientation. State education law also prohibits anti-gay bias, but that applies only to public schools.

In January, the Fourth District Court of Appeal in San Bernardino said the school is not a business but instead a social organization entitled to follow its principles.

Although California courts have defined such organizations as a Boys Club and the Rotary Club as businesses covered by the Unruh Act, the appeals court cited a 1998 state Supreme Court ruling that allowed the Boy Scouts to exclude gays and atheists. Like the Boy Scouts, the appellate panel said, a private religious school exists mainly to instill its values in young people.

See Court lets private schools expel lesbians