Work and Sexuality in the Sunbelt: Homophobic Workplace Discrimination in the U.S. South and Southwest, 1970 to the Present

Abstract

In 2016, PayPal, amultinational financial services company canceled an expansion intoNorth Carolina worth millions of dollars and with hundreds of jobs. The cancellation was in response to the state legislature’s passage of a transphobic law. The Public and Facilities Privacy and Security Act restricted transgender and nonbinary individuals from using public restrooms consistent with their gender identity. The act also overturned broader local nondiscrimination ordinances.1 PayPal’s corporate activism in support of the rights of sexual minorities and gender nonconformists reflected a half-century of activism by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activists who demanded workplace rights and benefits through their employer when cities and states refused to provide nondiscrimination protections. The majority of LGBT people had no federal protection against discrimination in employment until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled sexual orientation and gender identity are protected characteristics under Title VII of the Civil RightsAct (1964) in June 2020.2 Even after the achievement of same-sex marriage in 2015, few southern states provided workplace protections for sexual minorities. Workers across the South and Southwest could therefore be married to someone of the same sex but be fired by their homophobic boss for being gay.3 “Work and Sexuality in the Sunbelt” examines how sexual minorities reshaped the corporate workplace to provide protections in areas where federal, state, and local governments fell short. Pressure in this arena was successful to the extent that most major companies now prohibit discrimination and openly campaign for equality. Several case studies of homophobic discrimination are examined. Chapters on individual companies includingApple, Cracker Barrel, Duke University, and ExxonMobil shed light on mainstream LGBT strategies for equality within corporations as well as the extent to which victories at these companies