The Role of Organizational Leaders in Sexual Orientation Equality at Organizational and Federal Levels
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Purpose: This article expands the discourse of the impact of the passage of the Civil Rights Act (CRA) of 1964 to sexual orientation minorities (SOM). Design/Methodology/Approach: We first discuss the challenges faced by SOM in the workplace. We then present a model adapted from Edelman's "Handbook of employment discrimination research (pp. 337-352). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer (2005)" theory of endogeneity of law to discuss the impact that such leaders and their supportive organizational SOM policies can have on the passage of nationwide SOM legislation. Finally, we discuss how organizational leaders' beliefs and actions can play a major role in affecting organizational SOM policies. Findings: We argue that the presence of organizational protective policies can facilitate the passage of federal SOM legislation by establishing and legitimizing social norms. We also highlight how beliefs about religion, morality, controllability, and occupational stereotypes contribute to prejudice and lack of support for SOM-protective organizational policies. Implications: We discuss the importance that organizational SOM policies have on larger societal legislative issues, and outline how specific individual-level beliefs can impact organizational-level support for SOM. Originality/Value: We take a novel approach by focusing on what organizational leaders can do to enact SOM policies that may further influence protective laws. We also draw upon neo-institutional theory to show specifically how organizations can affect legislation; a topic often ignored in organizational psychology. 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.
