"Blending Identities: Unpacking Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Identity Management in the Workplace"

While studies and literature to date on lesbian, gay and bisexual identity (LGB) at work have emphasized difference and discrimination in an LGB worker’s sexual and work-place identity, this paper focuses on presenting a more detailed and nuanced representation of the lived experiences of LGB workers’ identity management in the workplace, exploring the ways in which an LGB person may ‘blend’ their sexual and work identities. This study draws from Goffman’s (1959, 1963) dramaturgical metaphor for the presentation of self and Simmel’s (1908) ‘Stranger’ essay to conceptualize the identity management process of LGB workers in the Republic of Ireland. From analysis of exploratory qualitative data from 29 semi-structured interviews, we unpack LGB identity management in the workplace as multi-layered, individualized, and relational. A continuum of separating and integrating/blending identities is presented, showing that a one-dimensional organizational response to LGB diversity and identity management in the wor...