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HBS Grads Link Coming Out to Happiness, Success

The authors hope to introduce it to college and corporate libraries.

"People who have been coming out are concurring with our findings that there are a lot of benefits to coming out that they didn't realize while closeted," Friskopp said.

Some audience members last night said they agreed with the authors' findings that workplaces can provide positive and supportive atmospheres for gays and lesbians.

"I wasn't surprised," said Shea B. Aldrich, who works at LASPAU: Academic and Professional Programs for the Americas, a division of Harvard University. "I always had assumed that Harvard is very liberal and free."

He said the findings confirm that there is a similar attitude towards gay and lesbian professionals outside of the Harvard community.

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Keith Barsky, a massage therapist in Boston who said the majority of his clients are gay, said of the authors: "Their findings follow along with how things are going in the general population."

Robert W. Mack '71, co-chair of the Harvard Gay and Lesbian Caucus, agreed.

"The results of the study are very impressively encouraging," he said, "at least to gay people going into the business world.

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