“You speak up here; your voice has to come down.” The gender intelligibility of LGB in gay-friendly organizations

Purpose Whilst the number of so-called gay-friendly organizations is rising, literature offers scarce assessments of how LGB people feel they belong to those environments. This study explores the cultural intelligibility of LGB gender performances within gay-friendly organizations. Design/methodology/approach I interviewed 12 LGB who have worked in signatory organizations of an LGBTI + agreement and are committed to promoting LGBTI + equity among their employees, stakeholders and society. I used autobiographic narratives as a method of data generation and interpretation. The participants were stimulated to provide accounts of how they have experienced performing themselves at work. Findings Employing the Butlerian notion of gender as performative acts and the queer theory critical reasoning, I argue that LGB people experience intelligible, viable and realizable lives within gay-friendly organizations paradoxically. Similar situations have distinct meanings depending on how they interpret their lived experience. Overall, findings reveal a limited gay-friendliness within gay-friendly organizations. Originality/value My contribution lies in examining the cultural intelligibility of queer gender performances in gay-friendly organizations and its five dimensions – relational, contextual, embodied, historical and political. By doing so, I contribute to the debates on heteronormativity in organizations, gay-friendly organizations and gender performances within organizations, and point new directions to theory and practice.