ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how participants organise ties of friendship made at work within the context of their everyday lives, revealing how these friendships are negotiated and embedded. Some interview accounts suggest that workplace friendship can be of central importance to some men while for others it occupies a secondary position behind relationships with partners and kin. Study findings reveal that gay men's workplace friendships are no different to other people's workplace friendships, in that the conditions of their possibility are susceptible to the commitments and pressures of holding down jobs and building work careers. The chapter shows how organisations can be difficult for LGBT employees to openly participate in work life. The friendship potential of work settings characterised as heteronormative can be impaired, insofar as they might inhibit the full range of possibilities for participants to connect with and benefit from workplace friendships with LGBT employees.
