Deferring Identity and Social Role in Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual New Zealanders

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between educational attainment and (1) the experience of difference and (2) self‐identification as a lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) person. Data from a national study of LGBs in New Zealand show that while there was no significant difference by highest educational qualification in the age at which respondents felt different from their peers, the more education a respondent had the older they were likely to be when they came out to themselves. This difference appears in both women and men. Various theories for this difference are explored, including discrimination bias (people who come out early experience discrimination and are discouraged from continuing formal education); deferred social role selection; discrimination; compensatory achievement; and anti‐labelling. There is some support for each of these theories in the data, and further exploration of their interaction is needed. Implications for social work education are considered.

Keywords:

• Bisexual
• Coming Out
• Education
• Gay
• Lesbian
• New Zealand
• Social Role

Notes

1. In this article the author acknowledges that a lesbian, gay or bisexual ‘identity’ is primarily an identity located in Western, Europeanised cultures and societies, and that the identities themselves are contended. The use of these Westernised constructs is not meant to imply the primacy or hegemony of Western identities, or even the appropriateness of applying these constructs to individuals or to non‐Westernised cultures. This contended language is used both for the sake of convenience, and because it is what our New Zealand LGB respondents told us they called themselves. Such language obviates the larger discussion which has been well‐developed elsewhere (see, for instance, Chou, 2000; or Murray, 2002). This issue has also been addressed by the author elsewhere (Henrickson, 2006b). The usage of other authors has been retained in this article.