Capitalism, Identity Politics, and Queerness Converge: LGBT Employee Resource Groups

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employee resource groups have brought about substantial organizational change within corporations. Capitalist structures have enabled these changes to occur more quickly in the private sector than within the public sector. In this article, I explore how capitalism has converged with two approaches of organizing around sexuality: identity politics and queerness. As a result of this convergence, human resource development has occurred at the individual, organizational, and societal levels. Due to current forms of capitalism, employers have a need to keep employees happy and enable them to seek meaning through their jobs. As a result, LGBT employees and their allies have seized upon the opportunity by creating spaces that enable social support and working toward organizational change. Danger and promises of employee resource groups are also considered.