When it came to being out at work, a sense of comfort and safety depended on which industry people worked in. He went on to say, “Like, in the past I might have come out in earlier jobs, but I don’t think I’d come out during. my sexual orientation doesn’t come into contact with my job at all, but that’s mostly just my choice of whether or not to come out at different times.” I just don’t feel comfortable dealing with racists and bigoted ideas and people. There’s definitely times where I feel uncomfortable just because it’s.
When asked if he felt comfortable at his construction job, one gay man (participants’ names have been withheld to protect their privacy) from Sudbury said, “Um, most of the time I do. Many participants also spoke of feeling uneasy at work. Racialized respondents were even more likely to hide their sexuality or gender identity than those who were white. Just over half of respondents said they concealed their identity from either supervisors or co-workers, or during teamwork or work events. Overall, many of them did not feel comfortable in their workplaces. Those results, touched on here, are also available at length in the project’s report, “ Work Inclusion and 2SLGBTQ+ People in Windsor and Sudbury.”ĭata from the surveys and interviews painted a detailed picture of participants’ work lives. Community members and union partners in both Windsor and Sudbury provided input on the study’s design, helped to spread the word and, when the time came, to communicate the results. Six hundred and seventy-three people filled out the survey, and from there we did 50 interviews - about 25 in each city. The survey and the interviews were broad and exploratory, asking participants about their work, health, and community experiences. It took a community-engaged, mixed-methods approach, starting with an online survey followed by semi-structured interviews. The multi-year study focused on the Ontario cities of Windsor and Sudbury. In the media and elsewhere, we often don’t hear from, or about, working-class 2SLGBTQ+ people or those living in smaller cities, particularly cities with industrial legacies.Ī research partnership between McMaster University, the University of Windsor, Unifor, the United Steelworkers (USW), the Sudbury Workers Education and Advocacy Centre and the Windsor Workers Education Centre aimed to address this gap by documenting the experiences of these workers, while asking this question: what role can unions play in creating safe and supportive workplaces and enhancing life for 2SLGBTQ+ workers?
Given all of this, some feel that trans and queer people have achieved equality in society and at work.ĢSLGBTQ+ activists, scholars and allies, however, have often suggested that the experiences of different members under this umbrella vary considerably. Increasingly, 2SLGBTQ+ people are taking up space in public conversations and in media. Same-gender couples in Canada can now legally marry, human rights legislation in most jurisdictions explicitly prohibits discrimination on the grounds of gender expression and identity, and same-sex partners are eligible for the same employment benefits as heterosexual couples. In the past four decades, Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer people (2SLGBTQ+) have won great advances in legal rights and social equality in Canada. You might want to keep it under wraps.’” - from “Work Inclusion and 2SLGBTQ+ People in Windsor and Sudbury”
I don’t know if other parents in the community would. But also at the same time, she would pull me aside and say things like, ‘well, I support you. a community advisor to the work and inclusion study, at Windsor, Ontario’s 2021 PrideFest.