Gay and Lesbian Librarians and the "Need" for GLBT Library Organizations. Ethical Questions, Professional Challenges, and Personal Dilemmas In and "Out of the Workplace

Abstract

IntroductionThe topic of this paper was literally dropped in my lap-or rather my inbox-in form of a series of questions from a fellow student in my Information Science Master's program ethics course at University of Wisconsin. My colleague, hoping in all earnestness to understand why organizations such as Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered Round Table (GLBTRT) of American Library Association (ALA)-a group I had mentioned in an earlier class discussion-are necessary in professional world of infor- mation science and librarianship, turned to me for answers. She did this, I was happy to realize, because she recognized my willingness to openly discuss subject; but perhaps she also turned to me because I was only self-identified GLBT (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, or Transgender) member of our class of some 30 graduate and undergraduate students. The latter fact, in and of itself, speaks to how far, even in 2004, gays and lesbians have yet to come in our ability to fearlessly proclaim to others our di∂erence! Her questions to me included following:...MLA [Medical Library Association] has a and Lesbian Caucus and you say ALA has a round table. I have often wondered why. I am at a loss to understand why those kinds of groups are necessary. Do a person's private sexual practices or orientation come up at work? (I never noticed this in any of my jobs-but perhaps I wasn't paying close enough attention.) Are gays and lesbians feeling at work? If so, then groups would make sense to have. ... I think everyone should be able to have whatever orientation they want and it should not be an issue at work or school or in community- so I just do not understand this. I hope you help me understand need for these groups.The exchange that resulted from this honest, if perhaps troublingly naive, query served, in part, to remind me of many ethical questions, not to mention professional and personal dilemmas, which a∂ect GLBT librarians each and every day as they strive to both live their lives and do their work as fully and as openly as is possible and/or prudent given particular societal, local, and institutional circumstances in which they find themselves. By examining several of questions posed to me by my colleague, I will, in this paper, consider some of those ethical issues, professional dilemmas, and attendant impacts as they relate to following:* Are groups such as GLBTRT necessary?* What purpose(s) do such groups serve?* Is sexual orientation an issue in library workplace?* Should orientation even be an issue in workplace?* Are GLBT persons feeling threatened at work?* What should libraries do with regard to GLBT employees and issues?The Past Is Prologue?In a September i992 editor's note in American Libraries, then-editor Thomas Gaughan reflected on backlash of librarian reaction and complaints surrounding publication of a photograph (see p. 45), of ALA Gay and Lesbian Task Force marching in San Francisco Pride Parade, which appeared on cover of July/August issue of American Libraries-an episode in our professional history that I will examine in more detail below. He acknowledged a sadly-learned lesson: that even among allegedly tolerant and politically-correct librarians and library supporters, homophobia, fear and hatred of homosexuals, was alive and vociferously apparent, and that it was, in e∂ect, the last socially acceptable (Gaughan, i992). Unfortunately, more than a decade later, this prejudice remains, to a far too significant extent, socially acceptable to many Americans. One need only recall, for example, recent rise in anti-gay and homophobic speech surrounding debate over gay marriage. In 2ist-century America, homophobia continues to survive and to play itself out in our culture and institutions-as it does, every day, in a variety of guises, in many of our i06,000-plus public, academic, and school libraries. …