Closeted At Work? It could hurt company performance…

Aug25 by D Gregory Smith

LGBT people work everywhere. But we’re not always welcome to be ourselves at work. In fact, it’s sometimes downright discouraged and even could be grounds for termination in some states. Well here’s something for intolerant employers: A new study suggests that coming out at work could enhance job performance for co-workers of the uncloseted- and therefore the company.

Supporters of policies that force gay and lesbian individuals to conceal their sexual orientation in the workplace argue that working with openly gay individuals undermines performance. We examine this claim in two studies and find the opposite effect. Specifically, participants working with openly gay partners performed better on a cognitive task (i.e., a math test) and a sensory-motor task (i.e., a Wii shooting game) than individuals left to wonder about the sexual orientation of their partners. These results suggest that policies, such as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” that introduce uncertainty into social interactions harm rather than protect performance. (emphasis mine)

We’ve always known that being trapped in the closet can be harmful to the self-esteem and self-worth of a person. It turns out that maintaining integrity in your personal life is also good for your working life. Makes sense to me. Ask anyone who has to remain closeted at work how hard it is to self-monitor at that level for 8-10 hours a day. Excruciating. And if you’re in the military, or member of an institution that actively frowns on The Gay- well, it’s even more terrible. Pretty much 24-hour-a-day anxiety and fear.

Living a life of integrity in the workplace was a dream of mine ever since I came out. I vowed I wouldn’t have to go back in- ever. But I’ve been more fortunate than some. Economic concerns about losing jobs can make this situation even more painful- there just aren’t a lot of choices for employers right now- especially in rural areas.

But maybe CEO’s who want to improve the job performance of their companies will see this and create more integrity-supportive personnel policies. It just makes sense.

And cents. And we all know that money talks. Especially today.

So feel free to put this post up in your break room….

Bullied Youth Proposes LGBT Youth Advisor To President Obama

Aug17 by D Gregory Smith

Photo courtesy of Brody Levesque

An inspiring story for going back to school….

You may remember me writing about Caleb Laieski, a 16 year old bullied youth from Arizona. Caleb was revently invited to the White House to share his experience as a bullied teen. Laieski was one of a few youth chosen to meet with President Obama for a photo opportunity. When they met, he proposed to President Obama that the administration appoint an LGBT youth advisor to the President. The advisor would serve as a liaison between the Obama Administration and our nation’s LGBT youth population to specifically address anti-LGBT bullying and other major issues that LGBT youth face and seek appropriate and immediate solutions.

Laieski refused to accept bullying as a rite of passage for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) teens. Raising funds and creating awareness, he took his passion to Washington, DC where he used his personal experience to lobby Washington lawmakers on the Student Non-Discrimination Act. After meeting with almost 200 different legislators and various administrative offices in just 22 days, Laieski worked on Capitol Hill to promote a safe schools bill; The Student Non-Discrimination Act (H.R. 998 – S. 999).

With his personal experience on bullying, he was invited to speak with the Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, to discuss the effect that bullying has on today’s lesbian and gay youth and the dire situation bullying creates for at-risk youth. The story stuck with Secretary Sebelius – a few days later, Laieski was included in the Secretary’s speech at the first-ever Federal LGBT Youth Summit that was held by the Department of Education.

Bullying has taken many at-risk LGBT youth and a recent study shows, that LGBT youth who come from “highly rejecting” families are more than 8 times as likely to have attempted suicide than LGBT peers who reported no or low levels of family rejection. In a tragic event that struck too close to home, Laieski lost a close friend his age to suicide last year. This friend had endured similar bullying- and Caleb has had several other close friends attempt suicide due to the same systematic and sustained harassment in public schools.

Reluctant to create more pain from his experience, Laieski has begun channeling his inner pain in a positive way by becoming a strong personal advocate for bullied LGBT Youth- an inspiring story, especially as students head back to school.

We’ll keep you informed about the LGBT Youth Advisor to The President….

More about Caleb here.

Adventures in the Molly House (or what I didn’t learn in History)

Aug4 by growlingmutt

Not to knock my Central-Montana public education, but I think we skipped over some of the juicer parts of history.

Either that, or I nodded off when we learned of Princess Seraphina. An 18th Century Molly House Lady who brought a thief to court for stealing her clothes. Ahh, queerness in the 18th century. The complete transcript of a trial in 1732 offers a peek at a character who knew how to work it. In an act of sheer extravaganza eleganza, Princess Seraphina, having been robbed at knife point, bloody and bruised, didn’t back down or cower. Girlfriend sued Thomas Gordon for ” putting him in fear, and taking from him a Coat, a Waistcoat, a pair of Breeches, a pair of Shoes, a pair of Silver Shoe-buckles, a Shirt, a Stock, a Silver Stock- buckle, and 4½d. in Money…”

The adventure of the Chevalier d’Eon was also skipped. You’d think in a county named Chouteau (with two “U”s, thankyouverymuch) the story of a spy who sported elegant gowns, who fought and fenced like a man yet walked like a woman would have been a great educational opportunity to spark some farm kid’s imagination and get her to learn more about French history…and transgender politics.

Yep. It’s history lessons like this that certainly would have rounded out my education. But, Mr. H, bless his basketball coach’s heart, never ventured into this territory.

Oh well, there’s always wiki on the interwebs.

ACLU Appeals MT Same-sex Partnership Dismissal

Aug4 by D Gregory Smith

HELENA, MT — The American Civil Liberties Union today appealed a Montana District Court decision dismissing the same-sex domestic partnership case,Donaldson and Guggenheim v. State of Montana, to the Montana Supreme Court.

The Montana Constitution guarantees that all people, including gay and lesbian couples, should be treated equally and fairly, the ACLU said. This case presents fundamental issues of privacy and equal protection that need to be resolved by Montana’s highest court.

“The couples we represent knew there might be some bumps along the way, but they are committed to seeing this case through so that they and all same-sex couples and their families can get the protections they need but are currently denied to them in Montana,” said ACLU of Montana Legal Director Betsy Griffing. “Our constitution requires that the state treat couples in committed relationships fairly and equally regardless of whether they are same-sex or different-sex couples.”

A recent poll, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for the American Civil Liberties Union, found that 53 percent of Montana voters favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to enter into domestic partnerships which include the same rights given to married couples. Only 40 percent oppose such partnerships.

The poll shows that Montanans understand that the lack of legal recognition of same-sex relationships leaves couples and their families extremely vulnerable — which is precisely what the evidence presented to the district court showed. One plaintiff was denied bereavement leave when her partner’s father died, and another lost her home because she was ineligible for worker’s compensation death benefits when her partner was killed in an accident.

Recently released 2010 U.S. Census numbers show 2,295 Montana same-sex households – a 54 percent jump since 2000. All are at risk without the legal protection of domestic partnerships.

“Right now gay and lesbian people can be kept from their partners in hospitals, denied medical leave to help their partners and even be left with nothing if those partners die without valid wills,” said Griffing. “This case is about treating people fairly and humanely, and allowing them to protect their family and loved ones.”

Plaintiffs in the case Donaldson and Guggenheim v. State of Montana are Mary Anne Guggenheim and Jan Donaldson of Helena, Stacey Haugland and Mary Leslie of Bozeman, Mike Long and Rich Parker of Bozeman, MJ Williams and Nancy Owens of Basin, Rick Wagner and Gary Stallings of Butte and Denise Boettcher and Kellie Gibson of Laurel.

In addition to Griffing, the couples are represented by Elizabeth Gill, a staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project; James Goetz and Ben Alke of the Bozeman, MT, law firm Goetz, Gallik & Baldwin P.C.; and Ruth Borenstein and Neil Perry of the law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP.

Additional information about the case, biographies of the plaintiffs and links to videos of the plaintiffs can be found at www.aclumontana.org andwww.aclu.org/mtpartnerships.

Newly Legal: Same-sex Marriage In Washington State

Aug3 by D Gregory Smith

And it’s not what you think. Nathan Koppel reports:

The Suquamish Tribal Council in Washington has formally changed its ordinances to allow same-sex couples to marry.

The change grants gay and lesbian couples all the rights afforded to heterosexual couples on the reservation, according to this report in the Kitsap Sun.

Is this the first Native American tribe to grant same-sex marriage rights?

No, that would be the Coquille Indian Tribe in Coos Bay, Ore in 2009, the Sun reports.

Now for a tougher question: What rights do same-sex couples married on Squamish land have once they leave the reservation?

Anyone see a trend? Questions answered here.

Oslo: Something To Remember

Jul25 by D Gregory Smith

I’ve been struggling to find a meaningful way to discuss the Oslo/Utoya tragedy- and I’m at the point of simply admitting the sheer frustration I have with my abilities as a writer, as a therapist, as a commentator- and as a human being. Maybe you’re there, too.

I want to know things that may be impossible to know: What created Anders Behring Breivik? Or, at least, what caused him to turn an automatic rifle towards children- strangers, innocents- and begin firing? What can prevent this sort of thing from happening in the future?

It’s not easy, but to glean anything from the news reports and the writings of Breivik himself is to come up with large fistfuls of chaff and a few measly chunks of nutritive information. The temptation to run with them is strong. The temptation to demonize right-wing extremists and to create parallels in the U.S.- where none may exist- is almost aching in its pull. The desire to condemn this violence as something entirely opposite from my particular political and social point of view is hard to ignore. And yet, for all these strong temptations, I can’t get past one thing.

What terrifies me most is that it happened in Norway.

“The country maintains a Nordic welfare model with universal health care, subsidized higher education, and a comprehensive social security system. From 2001 to 2007,^[13] and then again in 2009 and 2010, Norway had the highest human development index ranking in the world.”

This is not a country of people who are suffering from great numbers of the hungry, homeless, uneducated and uninsured. This is one of the most prosperous (human condition-wise) countries in the world. It has one of the strongest safety nets- if not the strongest- in the world for the protection of its citizens.

If such a tragedy could happen there- then what does that mean for the rest of the world?

I don’t know. And I’m not sure we’ll ever know.

I do know that all the laws in the world, all the tightening of regulations and of loopholes and sterner conviction and punishment policies won’t do one thing: they won’t mend the damage that has happened to people who now look at the stranger on the street with mistrust and fear.

What will?

Perhaps a reminder that this man became divorced from the human race in favor of an ideology. That he couldn’t see the suffering of fellow creatures as something relevant- because his beliefs and ideologies drowned them out- displacing compassion and even, I would argue, his humanity. It’s what we’ve seen before, it’s what we see now- subtle sometimes, but definitely present:

Ideology crowding out humanity.

We see it in political strategies and campaigns. It is visible in church policies, legal precedents, economics, social commentary- you name it, it’s probably there.

When ideology displaces humanity, our soul- our safety net- has departed.

I would suggest that the only way to get beyond this universal tragedy is to learn its lesson. And, it may be simpler than we think. To paraphrase Jesus of Nazareth, “People were not made for the law, but law is made for the good of the people.” All people. All human beings. Not just some. Not just one race, one gender, one sexuality, one religion, one political party, one country, etc.

The tragedy is in forgetting- forgetting that we’re all in this together. And arguably, every historical attempt to negate that simple statement has ended in tragedy. I will not bring in the dramatic historical examples you may be thinking of right now. That would be too easy. And this, for being such a simple concept, is obviously not so easy- or we wouldn’t be talking about it right now.

We only remember when horrifying tragedies like this make us stand up and take notice.

And that, I think, is the greatest tragedy of all.

For Ted and Jack, Marriage Equality Came Too Late

Jul24 by D Gregory Smith

Ted and Jack

Crossposted at Bilerico.com

You may remember my friend Ted Hayes. He’s been a guest of the site, writing a column about fundamentalism and sexuality and the pro-choice-life rhetoric.

New York’s Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record profiled Ted today- on the day that marriage equality becomes a reality in that state- and it’s beautiful.

For many people outside the LGBT world, gay pride and marriage equality is too often seen simply as the cause of “radical” youth- the pierced, cross-dressing, politically and theologically liberal boys/girls/trans/men/women with their Harleys and glitter and rollerskates.

It is that- and I happen to love it and believe in the power and importance of self-expression.

But it’s also more.

Gay Pride and marriage equality are also about the people of advancing age who have struggled to live their lives with love and integrity in the face of hatred, anger, denial and oppression- the kind that many of us today simply cannot fathom.

Enter Ted:

This is a short story about a man’s long life as he stands on the brink of a day he never thought would arrive.

At the age of eight, Ted Hayes heard a kid in the schoolyard call another kid a queer.

Hayes asked a friend what the word meant.

“It means when boys like boys, not girls. My dad says anyone like that should be killed.”

The friend said he was sure glad he wasn’t like that. Hayes agreed.

“That was the day the lying began — years and years of lying,” Hayes, of Stone Ridge, recalled last week.

The state’s gay marriage law takes effect Sunday. Hayes, now 80, grew up in the South and has mixed feelings about it. He’s fought for gay marriage and he’s glad it’s finally come to pass. Yet, the law ends at the New York state border. It represents a battle won, in a war that’s still being fought.

The law’s passage came too late for Hayes to share its satisfactions with his partner of 26 years, Jack Waite, who died of cancer two years ago at the age of 94.

“Jack could never grasp how our being married would have harmed another’s marriage in the slightest,” Hayes said, dismay coloring his voice.

The harm that’s been done, as Hayes has experienced it, has not been done by those who have struggled for marriage equality but by those who would deny them, people who have tried all Hayes’s long life to keep him a fearful, uncomplaining second-class citizen.

Thanks, Ted. We owe you one.

Read the full, beautiful story here.

A Thought On Prop 8 and Gender

Jul22 by D Gregory Smith

My partner finds all sorts of things that he brings to my attention every day- just one of the many reasons I love him. This came up yesterday….

From Metafilter (edited for ease of reading):

“Proposition 8 Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry:

Initiative Constitutional Amendment SECTION I. Title
This measure shall be known and may be cited as the “California Marriage Protection Act.”
SECTION 2. Article I. Section 7.5 is added to the California Constitution, to read: Sec. 7.5. Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”

The biggest problem is that laws like the California initiative will make the courts decide who is male and who is female — and all available decision criteria create unavoidable miscarriages of justice that will, or should, dismay initiative proponents.

You’re probably thinking, about now, that I’m going to exaggerate the sex-definitional 1 problem: Probably, you and everyone you know is unambiguously male or female — or at least has always believed himself or herself to be so, and nobody’s challenged that, and nobody’s likely to.

That’s true, absolutely: Only maybe one live birth in 100 has some non-standard sex anatomy, and genetic anomalies are slightly rarer than that.

However, let’s talk about those 1-in-100 or 1-in-1000 cases — because those could be you, or your aunt, or your best friend — and because our system of law has to deal with 1-in-1000 situations, too.

Excellent point…. Click the link above to join in the conversation.

Rick Perry + Crazy Christianists = Scary

Jul17 by D Gregory Smith

Since it’s Sunday- and most of us spend some time reflecting spiritually on Sunday- I couldn’t help but share the following article about Rick Perry, the current Governor of Texas. It comes from the Texas Observer:

A little-known movement of radical Christians and self-proclaimed prophets wants to infiltrate government, and Rick Perry might be their man.

Oh, it gets stranger.

The movement is called the New Apostolic Reformation. Believers fashion themselves modern-day prophets and apostles. They have taken Pentecostalism, with its emphasis on ecstatic worship and the supernatural, and given it an adrenaline shot.

The movement’s top prophets and apostles believe they have a direct line to God. Through them, they say, He communicates specific instructions and warnings. When mankind fails to heed the prophecies, the results can be catastrophic: earthquakes in Japan, terrorist attacks in New York, and economic collapse. On the other hand, they believe their God-given decrees have ended mad cow disease in Germany and produced rain in drought-stricken Texas.

Their beliefs can tend toward the bizarre. Some consider Freemasonry a “demonic stronghold” tantamount to witchcraft. The Democratic Party, one prominent member believes, is controlled by Jezebel and three lesser demons. Some prophets even claim to have seen demons at public meetings. They’ve taken biblical literalism to an extreme. In Texas, they engage in elaborate ceremonies involving branding irons, plumb lines and stakes inscribed with biblical passages driven into the earth of every Texas county.

If they simply professed unusual beliefs, movement leaders wouldn’t be remarkable. But what makes the New Apostolic Reformation movement so potent is its growing fascination with infiltrating politics and government. The new prophets and apostles believe Christians—certain Christians—are destined to not just take “dominion” over government, but stealthily climb to the commanding heights of what they term the “Seven Mountains” of society, including the media and the arts and entertainment world. They believe they’re intended to lord over it all. As a first step, they’re leading an “army of God” to commandeer civilian government.

In Rick Perry, they may have found their vessel. And the interest appears to be mutual.

I always thought Perry was a loose, secessionist cannon. But now, I just think he’s a loose, crazy christianist secessionist cannon. And the goofy theology driving some of these fringe groups is becoming more and more pervasive. Like I said: scary.

But really, y’all need to read this for y’selves. Full, fascinating story here.

WE’RE HERE

Jul14 by D Gregory Smith

The Missoulian and other media outlets are reporting that, according to the 2010 Census:

The number of gay and lesbian households in Montana has grown more than 54 percent over the last decade, and more than a quarter of those couples are raising children.

Census data released Thursday show there were 2,295 Montana households with same-sex couples in 2010. That’s compared to 1,482 in 2000.

More than 28 percent, or 655 households, are raising children under 18 years old. The 2010 Census tracked that information for the first time.

My first response to this news was to think, “Twice as many Montana same-sex households haven’t been ‘created’ in the last ten years- they’re just being reported.” But, then again, I just started one myself, so who knows?

Whatever the reason, I just love that the numbers have almost doubled. That particular reality must make some people very nervous….

However, the fact that more than a quarter of those reported are raising children is important, especially in light of the fact that some Montana school districts have been battlegrounds for comprehensive sex education- education which includes discussion of a broad understanding of sexuality. These battles are seemingly fought in ignorance to the rapidly dawning (and expanding!) reality of family diversity- even here in the wilds of Montana.

655 same-sex households are raising children- that’s at least 655 children who will have acceptance and understanding of diversity from a first person viewpoint. That’s at least 655 children who will know that good parenting doesn’t depend on heterosexual orientation. And their friends and the parents of their friends will know it, too.

Excellent.