Gays Must Be the Best and Most Competent
By Andy Heath
Occasionally I have the opportunity to listen to Black men and women tell me about the amazing struggle that it is to be an African American in the United States today. They will concede that this country has come a long way, but they also note that we have a long way to go. One thing they consistently point out is that they feel they must work twice as hard and be twice as good as their white counterparts in order to be considered at those counterparts' level. It is sad that this is the case. You would think in 2010 that we would be beyond that point. I suppose we do still have a long way to go.
I then realized that there is a strong correlation in that regard for gay people – especially when gay people are doing jobs that are typically associated with straight men. For example, the public will not take an excellent gay football player nearly as seriously as a mediocre straight football player. But why is that? I suppose I'm preaching to the choir in asking what sexuality has to do with the ability to play football, but really, why is it?
I have found this to be the case in nearly any calling that is typically associated with straight men. How many openly gay CEOs do you know of? Oh, there are a few, I'm sure, even in large companies. But these same people often feel like they have to hide their homosexuality in order to get ahead in the world. They feel like people will not accept them for who they really are and that they must put up a façade in order to succeed – and there might be an element of truth to that.
Unfortunately, politics still plays a prominent role in corporate life, even in die hard, for profit companies that cannot afford to have anything less than the most competent people in their key positions. And that politics often means that gays will get the short end of the stick. I have written about the glass ceiling as it relates to gays in the United States before, and this is a very real obstacle for openly gay men and lesbian women.
In my football example above, the gay man was more competent than the straight man. This is the only remedy I have really found in dealing with the glass ceiling for gays. We must be the best and most competent if we are to succeed. We must be the best writers, business people, scientists, laborers, managers, and any other label you can name.
My question is this – what can we do? The fact is that not all of us can be the very best and the very most competent in our fields. Though often I feel that if we are the best fighters and the most persistent, then we can often succeed no matter what our sexual orientation. I would ask you this question – what do you think we can do? How can we respond to the threat of getting the short end of the stick in ways other than being the very best? I hope you will contact me to let me know, and I will post the best responses.
