Covering (Yoshino, after Goffman)
Toning down an identity that others already know about so it draws less notice. Yoshino sets it beside passing, hiding the identity, and conversion, changing it, and describes his own path from passing while in the closet to covering once out as gay. He and Smith describe several kinds, among them avoiding behavior tied to a stereotype and staying silent about one’s own group.
What drives it
Covering is hard to see from outside because the person is already out. The cost shows up as effort: deciding about a photo on the desk, a story from the weekend, a tone of voice in a meeting. For identification it explains why being out at work and being at ease at work can feel far apart, and why a workplace with good policies can still be tiring.
How it shows
Work
Saying ‘my partner’ and never a name or pronoun. Leaving a rainbow lanyard at home on client days. Laughing along at a joke about ‘people like us’ to avoid seeming touchy. Turning down a role leading the LGBTQ network for fear of being typecast.
Relationships
Asking a partner not to hold hands at a work event. Choosing which friends meet which colleagues. Toning down clothes or voice at a family wedding.
Self
Notice what you edit before you talk about your weekend, and how tired you are after a day of editing. Notice where you don’t edit at all.
What tells it apart
Concealment stress (hiding a sexual orientation): Concealment means the identity is hidden. Covering starts after it is known, and may be the better fit for someone who is out to everyone and still careful how much shows.
Masking (camouflaging): Autistic masking hides traits of autism to fit in, such as scripting conversation or holding back movement. Covering a gay or trans identity takes a similar effort, and both can happen in the same person.
Impression management: Everyone manages impressions at work. Covering is narrower, aimed at one stigmatized identity, and is more likely the issue when the editing tracks that identity and leaves the rest of the person alone.
A test
Ask the person to track one workday and mark each time they changed what they would have said or done because of their identity. Several marks a day, while they are openly out, may point to covering.
Questions to carry
- In the last meeting, what did I leave out about my life, and who did I leave it out for?
- What would I do differently at work if nobody were keeping score?
How strong the research is
weak. Most of the data come from workplace surveys run with Deloitte, which rest on what people report about themselves and are not peer-reviewed. In a 2023 survey of 1,269 workers at US companies with 500 or more employees, run with NYU’s Meltzer Center, 60% said they had covered at work in the past year, close to the 61% of the 2013 Deloitte study Yoshino worked on, and 60% said covering hurt their well-being. Covering was reported in every group, including 54% of white cisgender men. The surveys show how common people say covering is, measured at one point in time.
Where it comes from
Erving Goffman, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity, 1963, where Yoshino found the term. Kenji Yoshino, ‘Covering’, Yale Law Journal, 2002, and Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights, Random House, 2006. Kenji Yoshino and Christie Smith, Uncovering Talent, Deloitte, 2013