This article examines the experiences of lesbians and gay men who are employed in a variety of public service occupations in the UK, drawing upon interview material gathered during a broader research project on lesbian and gay self-organization within the public sector trade union UNISON. It forges pathways through hitherto unexplored territories by concentrating upon career trajectories beyond the closet, arguing that those who dare to come out and proud in public sector workplaces will tread a precarious tightrope between being out and pursued for their specialist knowledges and out and persecuted for their presumed perversities. Although many public sector employers have endorsed equal opportunities policies which include lesbians and gay men, and although these have been vital in alleviating some forms of discrimination, it is argued that such measures have been incapable of resolving the more profound double-binds etched into our organizations, whereby sexualities are reproduced as inequalities, while sexuality itself is eclipsed from the organization's self-consciousness. It is claimed that in virtue of their unique positions and perspectives, lesbian and gay employees have become the carriers of the sexual consciousness of their organizations. However, it is also acknowledged that the political agenda on lesbian and gay rights will not remedy deeper ignorances and broader injustices, unless the heterosexual majority and other nonheterosexual minorities are also parties to these debates. LESBIANS AND GAYS IN PUBLIC SERVICE OCCUPATIONS 135All of which suggests that we need to explore the precarious trajectories in coming outand staying out -in more depth.

A BSTR AC T This article arises from a research project involving the disabled mem bers' group in UN ISO N, and problematises the social m odel which explicitly undergirds the discourses and practices of this group. In abstract terms, there are dangers that the social m odel can be interpreted in a way which privileges some im paired identities over others, sanctions a separatist ghetto which cannot reach out to other groups of disabled and disadvantaged people, and weaves a tangled web around researchers who adhere to the em ancipatory paradigm . In concrete terms, these dangers are explored with reference to the stories of im paired people who believe that they are excluded from the disabled mem bers' group, the predicam ents of ex-disabled and differen tly-disabled people in relation to the m ovement, and the culture of suspicion surrounding academ ics, particularly the`non-disabled' researcher as would-be ally. It is argued that, whilst such identities and issues might appear to be`marginal' ones in the sense of occurring at the boundary of disabled comm unities, disability politics and disability studies, they should not be`marginalised' by disabled activists and academ ics, and indeed that they pose challenges to our collective identities, social m ovements, theoretical m odels and research paradigm s which need to be addressed.

A BST RA CT This article considers`self-organisation' as a survival strategy for m arginalised groups within the British trade union movement. It arises from an ongoing research project into the`self-organised groups' for women, black m embers, disabled m em bers, and lesbian and gay m embers within the public sector unions NALG O and U NISO N . Initially, I provide an overview of the relevant literature on trade unions and their m arginalised m emberships, and argue that the absence of disabled people bears the hallmarks of discrim ination. The remainder of this article is intended as a ® rst step towards remedying this injustice. It draws upon interviews with disability activists to highlight critical m oments in the creation of the disabled mem bers' group in the 1980s; key themes inscribed on their agendas and activities in the 1990s; and dilem mas which will impact upon the future survival of the group. Finally, I offer some suggestions for future work in this arena and interrogate m y own position in this project.

This article is an offshoot of a three year study into the self-organized groups for women, black members, disabled members and lesbians and gay men which have been enshrined in the constitution of the UK's public sector union UNISON. The argument is that self-organization has become a significant axis around which trade union democracy is being reconstituted in the late twentieth century. However, our understanding of this phenomenon has been obscured by the ascendancy of mainstream union perspectives over self-organized perspectives, which has unfortunately been compounded by academic researchers. A re-conceptualization of selforganization proceeds in three stages. First, it is contextualized politically and theoretically in terms of trade union histories, new social movements and models of a diversified democratic polity. Second, it is re-signified by attending to its actual unfolding over the past two decades and the self-understandings of its activists. Third, is problematized with reference to exogenous pressures towards bureaucracy and oligarchy, and endogenous pressures towards essentialisms and exclusions.

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