Being out Matters for Lesbian Faculty: Personal Identities Influence Professional Experiences

Five lesbian faculty who were out in the workplace had positive personal and professional experiences in relation to how they negotiated family, campus culture, community, and personal fulfillment. This phenomenological qualitative study offers an alternative to deficit model research by exploring the participants’ lived-experiences using a feminist constructivist framework to highlight the shared consensus of the participants’ experiences. Based on these experiences, higher education administration can support positive intersections of work and personal life in order to maintain or create a healthy environment for lesbian and diverse faculty. Some recommendations are: develop and promote events and programs specifically for LGBT faculty and staff, merge the overall LGBT community with the campus LGBT community to address quality of life concerns, provide opportunities for all of campus to educate themselves on LGBT issues, and ensure that information for and about LGBT faculty and staff is readily available.