William Eve Research

The original purpose of the interview and paper was to see if there were Gender

Communications Expectations in another culture. In this case LGBT. After that I looked at 3

outside peer reviewed sources to see if they matched up to my findings and Terry’s experiences.

For this paper I interviewed Terry, a 33 year old, married, LBGT female for the interview.

She is senior manager at a major Boston area facility. She has worked in her Service industry for

10 years from the entry level to her senior position now. She has a BS and is applying for her MS

program. Terry is very outgoing, educated and extremely athletic. Approximately 5’2”, below

the shoulders sandy blond hair, in her signature pony tail with curls. She is wearing a woman’s

black pin striped suit, black all leather sneakers and men’s red stripped black tie with a white

shirt.

The interview took place in Terry’s office: she at her desk, myself in the guest chair. She

declined to allow to use audio or video recording.

I recorded the interview via a notepad and pencil.

Questions:

Me: You come from a traditional Irish Catholic family in Boston. How did being LBGT affect

your interactions with your family?

Specifically:

Parents:

Terry: Looking sad and distant, arms folded, sitting back, still has a small smile. “My parents

were/are very traditional. They believed marriage was the union of a man and a woman. While

they “accepted” me as a lesbian, they held out hope that I would marry a man, have children and

settle down. My dad even said to me in high school when I came out, “you disappoint me”. So it

made talking to them about certain things very difficult.”

Me: When did that change?

Terry: Looking a little more comfortable, but still arms folded, leaning away from me: “When I

met my