Factors influencing LGBTQ+ disclosure decision-making by Canadian health professionals: A qualitative study

Affirmative action and employment equity in the professions: Backlash fueled by individualism and meritocracy

In the 40 years since federal employment equity initiatives were launched in Canada, they have faced persistent backlash. This backlash is grounded in and fueled by conceptualizations of justice and equality that are rooted in ideologies of individualism and meritocracy. Here we draw on 140 qualitative interviews with members of six professions from across Canada, who self-identify as Indigenous, Black or racialized, ethnic minority, disabled, 2SLGBTQ+, and/or from working-class origins, to explore tensions between concepts of justice grounded in group-based oppressions and those grounded in individual egalitarianism. Though affirmative action and employment equity opened up opportunities, people were still left to fight for individual rights. This push to individualism was intensified by persistent hostile misperceptions that people are less qualified and in receipt of 'unfair advantages.' Through discursive misdirection, potential for transformative institutional change is undermined by liberal discourses of individualism and meritocracy.

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

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.