Escapist Podcast: 071: Jumping the Cougar-Shark

[Lieju]

Susan Arendt's argument in the hypothetical hiring question is problematic because people can have problems with a wide range of personal characteristics, including but not limited to gender, race, sexual preference, religion, political affiliation, the kind of car they drive, their sense of humour, you name it. As such disqualifying people on such characteristics is arbitrary at best, and can be outright malicious at worst.
Ultimately the only thing that really puts the workplace dynamic at risk in these cases is someone with such convictions not being professional enough to put them aside in the workplace. It's a problem with them, not with the people that they are offended by.

Never said it was a problem with the "offender," as it were. But whereas you can't choose your gender, race, sexual preference, you can choose whether or not you appear nude in a magazine.

You can, however, choose to be open about it, or actively hide it or lie about things like your sexual preference or religion, or even race if it's not apparent your grandmother was black or something, or that you're a transsexual.
This is pretty commonly discussed on discussion-boards and other forums where non-heterosexual people gather.
A lot of gays feel they need to hide their sexual orientation to get promoted, or not sacked.
This happens. Not too long ago here in Finland there was a case where a woman (Johanna Korhonen) lost her job because her boss found out she was a lesbian.

I was bullied in school, and the way the school chose to deal with it was to tell me it was me who was the problem because I wasn't 'normal'. This is the same kind of thinking.

That whole segment in your podcast just left a bad taste in my mouth. Mainly because I've had to deal with stuff like that.

If a straight woman mentions her husband, no one thinks anything of it.
If a lesbian mentions her wife, everyone takes note of it, and how she is 'bringing her sexuality into the workplace'.

It is a very common complaint gays face, if they are open about their sexuality, it's 'rubbing it into people's faces'.