ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on gay men’s and lesbians’ access to and treatment in private sector jobs. It reviews the legal environment surrounding discrimination against gay and lesbian employees, including federal, state, and local regulations. The chapter describes the authors’ views of the current corporate climate toward gays and lesbians and offers the authors’ assessment of current forces affecting personnel actions in the private and public sectors. It provides recommendations for employers in managing a diverse workforce. The legal environment for gays and lesbians is somewhat different in the private sector compared with the public sector. Legal protection exists for gays and lesbians in the public sector than in the private sector. A general characterization of the corporate climate as either tolerant of or discriminatory against gays and lesbians is not possible, as one might expect. The impact of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome crisis may be mixed.
