This article was all about how Sgt. Keith Wildhaber, a member of the police force since 1994, claimed to have been denied 23 promotions in 5 and a half years because he is openly gay. Wildhaber had initially filed a discrimination complaint internally, but a month after he did so he was transferred to another precinct against his wishes, so “He eventually filed a total of five complaints, alleging discrimination and retaliation” (Treisman). The lawsuit passed in his favor and he won around $11.9 million dollars on his discrimination claim and almost $8 million dollars on his retaliation claim.
In this case, the police demanded that Wildhaber covered because “his sexuality stood in the way of a potential promotion to lieutenant. According to Wildhaber, Saracino told him ‘the command staff has a problem with your sexuality’ and advised him to ‘tone down your gayness.’ ” (Treisman). Why the executives had such a problem with his homosexuality is unclear, but it can be assumed that they had an issue because it was something unfamiliar (or perhaps too familiar, if you know what I mean).
Even though Wildhaber had been given this so-called ‘advice’, he still refused to cover his gayness. The article doesn’t go in depth into if he toned it down at all or just stayed the same, but either way the societal pressures of the police department weren’t enough to make him hide this part of his identity. It can be guessed that perhaps one reason he didn’t cover is the growing social movement and acceptance of gay rights. Wildhaber didn’t feel alone in his struggle, so it could have encouraged him to stand up and be who he is regardless of the covering demands.
This is an interesting article, because we have seen with past articles that the individual typically submits to the force that is put upon them when society doesn’t want their true identity to show. Yet, in this article you can see that Wildhaber was trying to be forced into a straight men, but he kept denying that and decided to be his true self. This is one of the few times that the individual takes action upon themselves for a change to happen and it succeeding.
Similar to the article I read, both people stood up for themselves against societal pressures. It’s interesting to see how society pressures others into covering up a part of their identity. In this case, Wildhaber gets justice for being discriminated against however, it shows the horrible impact covering can have on the individual, especially in the workplace.