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Disclosing you are LGBTQ+ in a cover letter?

In our newest "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

The consensus on the 10/4 post seemed to be that sharing personal information that would reduce appearing to be a flight risk is a good thing, at least wrt a partner living near the job.

Would such disclosure be helpful to do even when the fact is something different like "I really love the area" or "I am LGBTQ+ and this university is in an area with a large LGBTQ+ community?"

My worry is that sharing this kind of information might lead someone to worry you aren't as serious about working at the SCHOOL itself, meaning they might worry that you won't be an engaged department member, etc.

Of course, I could see it only being a good idea to make both the case that the location is ideal AND the job/department is ideal, which I'm sure I will do, but I just want to make sure people seem to agree that including discussions of location wouldn't hurt and could only help one's chances (provided that the case is also made that the job itself is a good fit)

Good question. Another reader submitted the following reply:

I would save your LGBTQ+ status for an in-person conversation, not a application letter. If you are at a campus, then you can assess whether with a bunch of bigots or whether you are with tolerant people. Incidentally, as a letter writing for someone, I mentioned their military background, in part, because in the USA that is a protected class. It may have been awkward for them to mention in their application letter, but I did it in a manner that, I think, helped. They got the job they wanted.

I'm curious to hear what other people think. For one thing, if the OP would prefer not to pursue or accept a job in a department where there are people prejudiced against them (which would be completely understandable), then maybe disclosing their identity in a letter could be a good thing. Further, given that many search committees seem to be concerned about flight risks, disclosing reasons why the applicant would want to remain at the university and city might help the candidate.  

Do any readers have any helpful experiences or other insights relating to the OP's query?

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8 responses to “Disclosing you are LGBTQ+ in a cover letter?”

  1. Lots of interviews, no job

    I have mixed feelings about whether and to what extent one should include personal information in a cover letter. For some jobs, I’m sure including personal information about LGBTQ+ status is relevant, e.g. if you want to work at a policy institute or legal clinic devoted to LGBTQ+ policies. But generally I think including information about ones identity or sexual orientation in a cover letter is inappropriate. By my lights, that kind of information is better suited to discussions on campus.
    Of course, I’m not saying this kind of personal information isn’t important, or that it couldn’t be important to search committee members. But, at the end of the day, you’re applying for a job, and one’s gender identity/sexual orientation isn’t something that’s usually slated for discussion at places of employment.

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  2. Yes ambiguity

    I vote against including these in a cover letter. Not sure why, but I feel they are not dry enough for job materials. I have included not dry info before and usually got rejection very fast. But again, there are exceptions and the question is whether to maximize the chance…

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  3. Rosa

    Generally I would not mention things that will be true for lots of people, since it doesn’t give them a reason to prefer you to anyone else. And in this case, it might actually harm you – either because people are bigots, or because they think you are trying to get special consideration on diversity grounds (to be clear, I’m not at all claiming that it’s bad to want to hire people to expand the diversity of your department – just that someone people will think that, and will see it at special pleading). Being in an LGBTQ+ friendly area so often means a big urban area or a very liberal smaller town, and that will be attractive to a huge number of people on the job market – so I’d leave it off.

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  4. 2 cents

    Even if you do want to disclose, you don’t have to say it like “I want to work there because it’s in an LGBTQ+ friendly city” which, yes, does sound like you’re not into the school itself. You can instead say something like “the school’s commitment to LGBTQ+ is greatly attractive to me” or “as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I look forward to contributing to the school’s support of the community” or “as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I greatly value equity in my teaching”, etc. Basically, frame it as a part of the other standard parts of an application (your service or teaching attitudes).

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  5. Bill Vanderburgh

    The thing about having a partner in the area who you prefer to be near, or having the belief the area would be nice because it would give you a larger dating pool/more supportive environment, is that that those are not reasons for the department to hire you. Even in the elusive “all other things equal” comparison between two candidates, those sorts of factors are not relevant to choosing and would never come up in committee deliberations. (Not least because considering a candidate’s sexual orientation or marital status as a reason to/not hire is illegal.)
    Rosa is on to something when she mentions potential harms to one’s candidacy from mentioning such factors; I think those harms would come not from bias but from committee members thinking that a candidate who offers such factors as reasons to be hired does not understand how things work and, not having good judgement, would not be a good hire.
    There are other ways the OP’s topic could come up, for example in a diversity or teaching statement that talks about experiences supporting student success through working with student groups, mentoring, an AOC, or similar. In that case, frame it as value you would bring to the university rather than in terms of what you would get from it. No doubt a university in such an area would be glad to find a candidate who could effectively support that population, and that is a legitimate (though in typical cases minor) consideration in favor of a candidate.
    In my experience, many departments are not really concerned with “flight risks.” At four different universities where I’ve been informed about hiring deliberations, I heard the equivalent of, “We just want to hire the best philosopher we can get; if they leave later for a better opportunity, good for them.” Even if a committee is concerned with flight risks, anything a candidate says to the effect, “No really, I’ll stay here even if a much better opportunity comes up,” is not very persuasive.
    In short, if you are such a good candidate that a department would worry that you might be a flight risk, that means you are a good candidate and will likely get many competitive offers. No need to try to mitigate anything.

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  6. Tim

    I always assumed that diversity statements function partly as self-disclosure statements. So if someone is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I assume that information would tend to be revealed in the diversity statement. If that’s the case, I don’t know if it would be problematic to also mention it in a cover letter. Then again, it might also be redundant.

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  7. Cecil Burrow

    Mentioning a personal connection to a geographic area is helpful when the area in question would be viewed as undesirable by many, and the university might have a history of losing good candidates to better geographic areas. In that case, showing that you have some reason to be in that area long term is a good thing.
    But no university in New York, San Fransisco, Chicago etc. has this problem. So it’s difficult to see what is to be gained here.

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  8. Dissenting opinion

    I disagree with many of the earlier comments, so I’ll add my two cents. I mention the fact that I am a member of the LGBTQ+ community towards the end of my cover letter when I am briefly discussing my approach to diversity. As I see it, the cover letter partly offers an introduction to topics covered in other material, and mentioning one’s experience (e.g.) coming out can be quite relevant in one’s Diversity Statement. So, I think it is fine to mention it in the cover letter when previewing your lengthier discussion of diversity.
    As Rosa says, this may end up being a mark against you at some institutions. Indeed, it may have been in my case when applying to, say, a school with a high number of mormon faculty and students. But my thought is this: Better to learn now of their bigotry than later, when I am up for tenure! Job applications are a selection process for both parties involved. I also think discussing one’s LGBTQ+ status might help in other cases. The field of philosophy seems presently (and perhaps rightly) focused on rather visible forms of diversity: gender and race. But there are other forms of diversity that matter too, and it’s these that are hard to read off from, say, the applicant’s name. LGBTQ+ status also does not appear in the surveys we fill out for every application. So, if you think promoting rich diversity on campus matters, and if you think you can help do that both in terms of your own history and your approach to diversity, then that can rightly be mentioned.
    As is clear, though, I agree with the earlier comments that merely wanting to be in a LGBTQ+ friendly city is probably not going to help you (much), at least unless one were researching queer philosophy or the like. I also would only briefly mention one’s LGBTQ+ status because there are other, more relevant things to discuss for the job.

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