Page 216 - Discrimination at Work The Psychological and Organizational Bases

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8. UNDERSTANDING HETEROSEXISM
The demography of the workgroup may not be as important as the
attitudes held by group members and the degree to which gay employees
receive support from their coworkers. For example, in one study, even
when holding the sexual orientation of the group constant, gay and lesbian
employees with supportive coworkers and supervisors reported less fear
of disclosure and were more likely to be out at work than those lacking
a supportive work group (Ragins & Cornwell, 2001b). This suggests that
the presence of supportive heterosexual coworkers also allows gay and
lesbian employees to bring their true identity to work.
In summary, this research suggests that, when individuals within a work
group have heterosexist attitudes, gay and lesbian employees are likely to
feel threatened, resulting in less group cohesion and, potentially, more
group conflict. On the other hand, when group members have tolerant
and/or positive attitudes toward homosexuality, lesbians and gays can be
open and productive members of the team.

Individual Level Antecedents

In addition to examining organizational- and group-level predictors, re­
searchers have tried to determine personal aspects of heterosexuals that
correlate with heterosexism. Although no studies support the claim that
individual traits cause heterosexism, they do create a general profile of het­
erosexuals who are most likely to hold these attitudes. For example, some
research indicates that race and ethnicity may affect attitudes toward gays
and lesbians; both Asians (Lippincott, Wlazelek, & Schumacher, 2000) and
African Americans (Herek & Capitanio, 1999) were found to harbor more
heterosexism than their Caucasian counterparts. Results of this work also
indicated that heterosexual men are typically less tolerant of gays and les­
bians, particularly gay men, than are heterosexual women (Moss, 2001).
Additionally, antigay prejudice is stronger among men and women who
strongly adhere to traditional gender roles (Kite & Whitley, 1998). This may
be related to a more general finding that people who support rigid social
rules, such as those who adhere to right-wing authoritarianism (Whitley &
Lee, 2000) and socially conservative philosophies (Heaven & Oxman, 1999)
are also likely to harbor negative attitudes toward lesbians and gays. Sim­
ilarly, individuals who hold traditional and conservative religious values
are often opposed to homosexuality on religious grounds (Hunter, 1991).
Existing research indicates more negative attitudes toward homosexuality
among individuals with fundamentalist Christian religious orientations
(Kirkpatrick, 1993), and those from conservative non-Christian religions,
such as Muslims (Beck, 1999). Finally, researchers have found links