Coming out in the university workplace: a case study of LGBTQ+staf visibility

This article explores the issue of workplace visibility and signs and symbols of LGBTQ+identity in a UK university. A poststructuralist Butlerian theoretical framework underpins this article. Sexual and gender identities are understood as multiple and frag- mented, and constructed in relation to others and within the systems of power and knowl- edge that exist in universities and society more widely. An anonymous survey and focus group discussions were conducted with LGBTQ+staf in a higher education institution in England awarded university status in 1992. Results showed that staf felt relatively comfortable coming out to their peer-groups in the workplace but were less confdent in coming out to students. Signs and symbols of LGBTQ+identities were fundamentally important to LGBTQ+staf members in helping them feel safe in the workplace and indi- cating to LGBTQ+students that they were potentially a source of support. The visibility of LGBTQ+senior leaders was important in empowering staf to believe that they too might progress within the university.