Bullied Back in the Closet: Disengagement of LGBT Employees Facing Workplace Bullying

F ull-time employed adults spend nearly 25% of their time working for their employers every year. For the estimated 8.8 million lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered (LGBT) adults living in the United States (Ramos, Badgett, & Sears, 2008), the concept of spending 25% of a year at work believing they lack the safety to self-identify as LGBT because of a fear of losing employment can cause psychological stress, diminished physical health, and reduced work performance (Chun, 2011). The LGBT equal rights movement works so that fairness and ethical treatment of LGBT individuals continue; one area of continued attention is the existing and persistent social strain for LGBT individuals within workplace environments in which they often experience exclusion and bias (Field, 2009; Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation [GLAAD] et al., 2011; Human