Sarah

My first reaction to the question I’ve posed in the title of this piece is that it’s a ridiculous question. It’s based on completely heteronormative thinking, to say that LGBTQ social workers have to even consider this question, when straight social workers clearly don’t have to consider whether they should “reveal” their sexuality to clients. My straight coworkers are open with their clients about the fact that they are married or living with an opposite sex partner. Personally, I live with an opposite sex partner, though I identify as bisexual. Most of my teen clients know I have a boyfriend, and no one has ever, ever mentioned that that “revelation” might be inappropriate.

To propose that LGBTQ social workers should have to be more secretive about their personal lives and relationships than straight social workers sends a message that our relationships are not equally as legitimate as those of our straight coworkers. If an organization is fine with the fact that clients know a straight female worker is married to a man, but discourage a bisexual female worker from letting her clients know about her same-sex relationship, especially while purporting to be an organization that supports social equality, well, I think that’s fucked.

Here’s what happened…