title: Gay officers in their midst: heterosexual police employees' anticipation of the consequences for coworkers who come out.
abstract: While fear among gay men and lesbians about being out in a masculinist environment is not surprising, this article examines what heterosexuals expect will happen when gay men and lesbians come out. We draw on a unique dataset from a police department in the southwest United States to examine the consequences anticipated by heterosexual police department employees if a gay or lesbian officer's sexual orientation became known in the workplace. We test four main sets of factors: individual-level demographic characteristics and religious background; homophobia; organizational tolerance for discrimination; and intergroup contact theory to explain how heterosexuals expect gay and lesbian coworkers to be treated. Using ordinary least squares regression, we find that characteristics of workplaces, measured by tolerance of discrimination, as well as contact with gay men and lesbians on the job are more significant predictors of anticipated outcomes than are individual-level traits and homophobic attitudes. We conclude by discussing the policy implications of our research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269-2068, USA. Mary.Bernstein@uconn.edu
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Swartwout
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002961:Civil Rights; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004651:Employment / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D063509:Homophobia; D006716:Homosexuality / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D008297:Male; D016134:Organizational Policy; D016495:Police; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012919:Social Behavior; D015206:Southwestern United States