Gay, Lesbian Committee documents homophobia
Over the last decade or so, the most frequent topic of discussion at meetings of the Chapter's Committee on Lesbian and Gay Issues (COLGI) has been the painful experience of homophobia in the workplace.
Seasoned social workers speak of their frustration with subtle and not so subtle biases sometimes blindly held by their social work colleagues. Students voice their fear of speaking up when they feel the sting of homophobia in the words, attitudes or theories of their professors or field instructors. Commonly, supervisors wearing wedding rings and displaying pictures of their children and spouse, proclaim that being open about one's sexual orientation would be detrimental to clients--implying that merely being homosexual is in some way controversial and harmful to others.
Many outside the committee may find these reports difficult to believe or think that perhaps there have been a few isolated incidences. The evidence, however, seems to indicate that very few Gay or Lesbian social workers in the City are able to say that they have not felt the impact of bias in their relationships with colleagues.
Since there has been no systematic documenting of these experiences, COLGI is beginning a project to record the stories of our colleagues to support a call for increased efforts to sensitize and educate social workers on these matters. The final document will protect anonymity and present a full array of experiences in anecdotal form along with any justifiable generalizations. Although efforts will be made to estimate the extent of the problem, the committee is mindful of the limitations of this project.
COLGI invites all Gay and Lesbian social workers who have experienced discomfort and pain in their social work settings because of their sexual orientation to call Helen DeRossi at 718-488-0569 or Dick Jazwinski at 212-989-6083 to arrange to document their stories.