Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents

Homophobia Disguised as Religious Bias Claim Tossed Out

Sue — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 13:47:48 -0500

Mellon fired an employee, in part due to his disrespectful treatment of his LGBTQ coworkers and in part due to his inappropriate work behavior. The employee, Avraham Schwartzberg of Squirrel Hill, filed a lawsuit claiming he was discriminated against because of his religion; he's an Orthodox Jew.

He was a member of the company's group for people with disabilities, known as HEART, and in May 2005, like all other Mellon employees, he received an e-mail inviting him to a luncheon hosted by the Mellon's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employee group with Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. Five days later he received a reminder from the head of the group for disabled employees about the luncheon.

His trouble at work started two days later when he sent a note back to the head of the disability group saying it should not be lumped in with other groups of workers. His note included the line, "If you happen to be black or purple or green, etc. or happen to have this sickness called gay or lesbian, just do your job."

The head of the group sent the note to the Human Relations department and later testified the e-mail showed a lack respect for other individuals. The company agreed and called Mr. Schwartzberg in for a meeting where he was told his e-mail reply was offensive and that while the company respected his opinion, he was required to treat all co-workers with respect. He replied later with a religious postcard and a note that said in part, "the true friend of gays and lesbians is the one that points them to help."

A US District Judge tossed the religious bia suit out.

Previous decisions at this level have tossed out claims that religious freedoms allow discriminatory behavior targeting gays in the workplace.

It sickens me when people in the workplace assume that homophobia must be tolerated as an outgrowth of Christian, Jewish or any other belief system. That's bullshit. You come to work, you leave a little bit of your personal freedoms at the door when they conflict with the personal freedoms of other individuals.

Amen, Mellon.

Piittsburgh: There is no "LGBTor Q" in Diversity!

Sue — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 13:31:53 -0500

ARTICLE V: DISCRIMINATION

(b) It shall be the public policy of the City to prohibit discrimination because of race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, place of birth, sex, sexual orientation, familial status, age, nonjob related handicap, or disability in employment; and

(n) SEXUAL ORIENTATION. Male or female homosexuality, heterosexuality and bisexuality or perceived homosexuality, heterosexuality and bisexuality.

Give credit where credit is due. Luke Ravenstahl hired Tamiko Stanley as the City's Equal Employment Opportunities manager and she's tackling the job full-throttle when it comes to gender and race, according to Friday's Post-Gazette. This includes everything from upper-body strength standards in firefighter hiring to forging partnerships with community-based groups such the Kingsley Association to recruit more African-American applicants for City jobs.

Rich Lord mentions that Stanley came to the City after several years with the Pirates without noting her actual accomplishments in diversity recruitment. I'm assuming we are all in agreement that the City has enough overpaid fat-cats who accomplish nothing to rival anything the Pirates lineup for the past umpteen years. Hopefully, that wasn't Stanley's forte.

Stanley has her work cut out for her with the Racial Equity Review Team, labor unions and lotsa lawyers breathing down her neck. One of those neck-breathers is long-time activist Celeste Taylor who is the only person in the article to mention sexual orientation in the same breathe as diversity. Not a single column inch mentions Stanley's plans to diversify the City workforce along the sexual orientation continuum. No mention of incorporating LGBTQ issues in the new City University diversity curriculum. I'm torn between thinking Rich Lord didn't ask the question, but it is probably more accurate to acknowle that sexual minorities are not on the radar for Stanley.

This is the Democratic Administration helmed by a Mayor who publicly stated his opposition to gay marriage and gay civil unions. If he fails that litmus test, is it realistic to think he's going to promote "take a queer to work day" for City employees? Yes, I realize Luke had the big gay meeting with local LGBTQ leaders (including the Stonewall Democrats) the afternoon before the election, but not a single person in attendance has uttered a public word about the outcome. Thus, Luke is still officially opposed to gay unions.

I guess this latest diversity accolade puts to rest the rumor that Luke thought he was opposing homosexual labor unions. I've contacted the homosexual labor unions, but they, like the Steel-City Stonewall Democrats, have yet to reply to my email inquiries on this issue.

Some highlights:

FOP Prez Jimmy Malloy thinks the $38,000+ low a starting salary for police officers with two-year degrees is the diversity issue. Yeah, that's probably it. Or maybe it is the nasty little requirement forcing the police officers to live far away from the lily white mecca of Cranberry Township that drives the minority applicants away!

Ms. Taylor wants to apply the NFL's "Rooney Rule" to City openings, requiring that at least one minority applicant be interviewed. Do you think the NFL applies that principle to homosexuals or they just let the beat down/pray for your soul football culture weed out the queers?

Mr. Malloy is quoted as believing police recruits "are already indoctrinated to the principle of treating people with respect."

Well, we know Luke respects folks in our community willing to ante up for some back rubbing. There's no Pittsburgh LGTB Chamber of Commerce and our professional networking group (Thursday Night Live) is on life support, so who is going to advocate for a more-queer friendly City workforce? Or pay for it?

Did Rich Lord ask any gay questions? Did he?

Good Workplace News for Pgh Homos

Sue — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 10:43:23 -0500

Good news for members of the LGBTQ community working for a handful of our local employers. From the Post-Gazette ...

Mellon Financial Corp., US Airways and GlaxoSmithKline were among 142 companies ranked as the Best Places to Work for Gay, Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Workers. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2007 rankings include companies that implement policies and practices to promote fairness and equality for GLBT workers, the foundation said.

Mellon Financial was featured in a Post-Gazette article for supporting employee driven affinity networks

The HRC Best Places to Work 2007 identifies over 140 companies that achieved a perfect score on equality issues.

Individuals can be fired in 33 states if they are gay, lesbian, or bisexual, and 42 states if they are transgender. HRC recognizes these Best Places to Work for GLBT Equality as companies that have made a commitment to end discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the workplace.

The index only considers Fortune 500 companies and excludes governments, non-profits and hospitals (that's a shame). Criteria include:

* Including sexual orientation and gender identity and expression in company non-discrimination policies.

* Offering diversity education that includes sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.

* Offering equal benefits to domestic partners, including health coverage

* Supporting transgender employees with transition guidelines and wellness benefits.

*Recognizing and supporting GLBT employee resource groups or company wide diversity councils

* Engaging in respectful and appropriate marketing/philanthropy to the LGBT community

Some other companies of interest on the ranking (at least my interest):

- GAP , Nike and Levi Strauss

- Clear Channel Communications

- Best Buy

- Sears

Shop for Equality

Sue — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 17:54:58 -0500

I'm too tired to be very verbose tonight. Here's a good resource from the Human Rights Campaign ....

Buying a cup of coffee? Filling up your gas tank?

Booking a flight for that dream vacation?

Every day, you make decisions about whom to support in corporate America. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Buying for Equality can help you easily support companies that support equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans.

Ratings in Buying for Equality are based on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s annual report card, the Corporate Equality Index. A record 138 companies scored 100 percent on this year’s report, which is a significant increase from the 101 companies that earned a perfect score last year. Every day, from enhanced domestic partner benefits to transgender inclusion in non-discrimination policies, we are seeing a revolution in the American workplace.

Last year, more than 250,000 people used Buying for Equality to make informed choices about their purchases. This year, you can do your part to support fair-minded businesses by requesting or downloading Buying for Equality 2007.

Houston Landscaping Company Refuses to Work for Gay Couple

Sue — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 07:30:20 -0500

A landscaping business owned by Christian conservatives is under fire (and some praise) for refusing to work for homosexuals. Garden Guy owner Sabrina Farber sent an email to Michael Lord and Gary Lackey explaining her reasons for not submitting a bid. Lord and Lackey forward to friends, urging them to avoid doing business with a company that practices homophobia.

The world has responded. The Garden Guy website was beseiged with idiots threatening the owner's family, but also with people praising their stance. One professional landscaping association has adopted a non-discrimination policy.

"It was just our intent to uphold our rights as small-business owners to choose our clientele," she said. "All the hate, the threats of sodomizing my children, the threats of me being murdered, came out because of a very businesslike straightforward e-mail I sent. The crowd of tolerance and diversity is not so tolerant."

See I hate comments like that. Since when is being tolerant the provence of any one particular crowd? Conservative Christians are quick to throw down the T card when it comes to anyone even slightly restricting their rights to be a xtian as they want, so its bogus for Farber to hide behind that one. And her "crowd" were the ones sending death threats to the Dixie Chicks' families. No one in my circle of liberal friends (or conservative friends) would condone threatening a family or wishing harm on children.

But Mrs. Farber said she and her husband also had gotten hundreds of calls and messages offering encouragement and had been touched by that. "We just cried. We have been through so much," Mr. Farber said. "We become accidental crusaders for Christ."

Yes, Mrs. Farber -- Jesus and the City of Houston are proud of your bigotry and give you free reign to be as discriminatory as you want. You go girl!

Philly Car Dealer "Champions" Homophobia

Sue — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 22:04:26 -0400

A Philadelphia man has filed a formal complaint alleging that he was fired after complaining about a "pervasive anti-gay" environment at the Toyota dealership where he was employed.

The ex-employee, Patrick Johnston of Philadelphia, said the work environment at Champion, on Castor Avenue near Cottman, was one in which anti-gay slurs were routine and tolerated.

"Salespeople regularly used slurs like 'faggots' and 'fudgepackers' to refer to gay people," said Johnston, who is gay.

"Even gay customers - who were making these people a substantial commission - were called 'fairies' and 'faggots' behind their backs," he said.

The dealership, Champion Toyota, is owned by Sloane Automotive Group had no comment in response to the complaint.

Johnston first complained internally about the pervasive nature of the gay bashing, but was told that it was the nature of the business (365gay.com).

"It is shocking and disappointing that this type of anti-gay bigotry was so widespread at Sloane Automotive Group,” said Johnson's attorney Katie Eyer, of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights.

"What is particularly disturbing is that Mr. Johnston was terminated when he complained about Sloane’s response. Retaliatory action of that kind sends a clear message to other employees – don’t complain if you value your job. This type of conduct is precisely the type of employer behavior that the Philadelphia Fair Practices Ordinance is designed to prevent."

Toyota received a perfect score on the 2005 HRC Corporate Equality Index. Here's their response to that ranking:

Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.
Jim Press, President and Chief Operating Officer, Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc.

“Toyota Motor Sales is honored to be recognized by the Human Rights Campaign with a perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index. Diversity provides Toyota with a competitive advantage; understanding, embracing and leveraging our differences enables us to achieve our business goals. At Toyota, we acknowledge and support the diversity of sexual orientation and gender expression. Toyota recognizes its responsibility to both its employees and customers, and considers Diversity and Inclusion an integral part of every aspect of the business.”

How is this consistent with a pervasive homophobic environment Champion Toyota's management allegedly described? Sadly for the Correspondents, the parent sales company also owns a Honda dealership. What's a dyke to drive?

Just goes to show -- we may be a market, but equality is a long way down the road.

Desperate Opponent Paints Murtha as Fey "San Fran" Politico

Sue — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 08:45:09 -0400

This was very amusing from today's Post-Gazette:

Even Diana Irey, his Republican challenger, acknowledged in an interview last week that she's facing "an uphill battle."

But Ms. Irey added: "The war issue has made people raise an eyebrow ... and given us an opportunity to tell people who he really is." She mentions Mr. Murtha's opposition to a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage: "Jack Murtha acts more like he's representing liberal San Francisco than conservative southwestern Pennsylvania."

Diana, honey, both my eyebrows are raised in skeptical disbelief that you actually spew this ridiculous crap in front of people with notepads and cameras. Its so very predictable to trot out the tired old gay-by-association references. And very sad that you attempt to counter Murtha's pragmatic stance on the war with the old homo thrust and parry.

Check out Chris Matthew's smackdown of Irey here ....

Local LGBTQ Business Owner Shares Gay Secret with PG

Sue — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 09:34:09 -0400

Dee Sias, owner of local independent video store Heads Together, wrote to the Post-Gazette to share the store's secret to small business success in the face of competitor's like Blockbuster and Netflix -- they carry movies people want to see. Including (gasp!) gay movies.

I would like people to know that my store does very well -- considering the bills I have to pay -- and the reason is that I carry what other stores do not, what Netflix cannot provide, what is not available on cable and what Blockbuster refused to carry.
I have an extremely loyal customer base of individuals looking for independent, foreign, cult and gay movies. I believe we succeed where others do not because we are knowledgeable and passionate about movies, familiar with our customers and love to talk about and recommend movies.

Sias is responding to a PG article questioning the uncertain future of independent video stores. Sias points out that Heads Together thrives while two other Squirrel Hill stores have closed their doors, including a Blockbuster.

I used to belong to Netflix, but I don't rent movies often enough to justify it. Oh sure, I had noble intentions --- renting movies, cuddling on the sofa, staying in touch with pop culture, etc. Then life got in the way --- newspapers and books to be read, friends to engage in conversations, blog posts to write, even the occasional television program. There was too much real life happening to watch the movie edition. Sigh.

Now we'll be toddling off to Heads Together to check out their selection.

Dee -- good for you for writing in to defend the small entrepreneur as well as those of us who aren't irreversibly cocooned in corporate webs.

Nationwide really is on our side

Sue — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 07:57:28 -0400

From a LA Times article reprinted in the Post-Gazette:

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. doesn't see it that way. Since 1999, the Columbus, Ohio-based company has offered its 35,000 employees benefits for same-sex partners, as well as for aging parents, adult children and roommates.
"As the traditional household has changed, we decided to let our associates define family," spokesman Eric Hardgrove said.
When Ohio voters amended the state's constitution in 2004 to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman, Nationwide Mutual didn't change its policy.
Mr. Hardgrove said the benefits plan "goes along with our commitment to building a workplace that fosters respect, is inclusive and nondiscriminatory."

With the release of HRC's State of the Workplace, evidence is mounting that the economy is becoming more gay friendly despite the desperate scrambling on the social-cultural front. A fair and inclusive workplace is paramount to attracting talented employees.

I like that Nationwide covers aging parents, adult children and roommates. That is a heartening trend. Several of my friends and acquaintances are caring for their parents, finding the struggle to provide health care often overwhelming. A few are single parents and grandma/grandpa has joined the household to help with raising the children. Yet another example of the modern "classic" family.

I wonder if Nationwide needs a social worker?

HRC issues latest State of the Workplace for LGBT employees

Sue — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 06:57:46 -0400

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has issued the 2005-2006 State of the Workplace report.

Take note of these facts:

* 51% of Fortune 500 companies offer domestic partner benefits

* 86% include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies

* 81% include gender identity in their non-discrimination policies

Obviously, corporate America recognizes that a LGBT friendly workplace is good business.

This does not bode well for Pennsylvania given our legislative obsession for ramping up anti-gay initiatives. How will we attract the companies so necessary to create jobs for PA families if we are creating a hostile environment? It would be interesting to see the Democrats suddenly become the champions of economic development by creating an environment conducive to attracting private investment. Not gonna happen anytime soon while so many Dems are cowering in fear for losing their seats for even consorting with homosexuals.

$640 million in homo buying power -- and the big boys want it ....

Sue — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 08:11:30 -0400

I caught this on PageOneQ this morning about the increase in lbgt specific marketing from corporate America.

Last year marked the first time that advertising with gay-specific content comprised more than half of all ads in the U.S. gay and lesbian press, according to an annual report by Rivendell and New York's Prime Access Inc. that reviews 151 individual gay and lesbian titles. Only three years before, gay-specific content comprised just 9.9 percent of all ads in gay and lesbian publications.

Gay-specific content means the ad includes something very gay, like same sex couple walking toward their high-end car rather than just the car itself.

The article goes on, however, to explore the next "walk the walk, talk the talk" issue -- are these companies who want our $$ offering domestic partnership benefits, including sexual orientation and gender identity in their non-discrim clauses and sponsoring LGBT events much like they sponsor hetero events?

So we are in the midst of a watershed moment in LGBT history ... our government is working overtime to restrict our civil liberties while coporate America is desperate for our consumer dollars. So what I ask is whether the mighty whites in charge of these companies are making campaign contributions to the very people elected officials who are deadset on driving us into reeducation camps?

Let's take a look at the Red/Blue spectrum of the corporate sponsors of San Francisco's PrideFest as listed in this article ... courtesy of Buy Blue.org

Bud Light 64% of political contributions went to Republicans, 36% to Democrats

Delta Airlines 57% Republicans, 43% Democrats

Travelocity no data

Comcast 47% Republican, 53% Democrats

Wells Fargo 42% Republican, 58% Democrats

Toyota no contributions

Bank of America 61% Republican, 39% Democrats

MasterCard no contributions

Diet Pepsi 68% Republican, 32 % Democrats

Showtime no data

The answer is yes. To some degree all of the companies who make contributions are supporting the Pro-Corporate American party that wants to kick us to the curb. But that's just business?

My point is that as we become an increasingly consumerized demographic, we have to keep our eyes on the larger prize and refuse to allow them to merely pander to us. Its easy to be seduced by the fact that say Bank of America sponsors your PrideFest to justify our consumer decisions. But look at Coors Brewing -- they hired a LGBT outreach person ... Mary Cheney. All the while their founder was running on a very right wing Republican platform. Should we really buy their beer when they are so obviously pandering to us?

These companies can have their cake and eat it too. The desperate little boycott of Ford led by the American Family Association is having no impact whatsoever according to industry ananlysts who can trace Ford's declining sales to other more significant factors. In fact, Ford recently sponsored the GLAAD Media Awards. Their response to the boycott has been to increase their advertising in Christian oriented magazines --- the AFA isn't having any of that, but I bet all the sheep reading the magazines don't realize it.

Does anyone know if Giant Eagle offers domestic partner benefits?

AFA sets up Anti-Gay Ford Boycott Website

Sue — Mon, 29 May 2006 10:03:24 -0400

Our homo-bigot friends at the American Family Association have taken their gay hate campaign up a notch by setting up a website dedicated to boycotting Ford. Because Ford hates freedom and is out to destroy the fabric of American families by selling cars to homosexuals.

h/t to Feministing

Notes on anti-gay boycotts

Sue — Thu, 16 Mar 2006 09:29:28 -0500

According to the New York Times, advertising in gay media has been on the rise. Rivendell Media, an advertising representative for gay and lesbian media outlets in Mountainside, N.J., said spending in publications aimed at gay audiences rose 2 percent in 2005, to $212 million. From 2003 to 2004, spending increased 28 percent. This year, Rivendell expects another large increase.

"Smart companies would say it's all about being inclusive anyway," the chief executive of Rivendell, Todd Evans, said. "Its so funny how laissez-faire it is now to advertise to this market."

28% increase in LGBT targeted advertising spending? So much for the impact of the wingnuts boycotts. (18 wingnut homo-hating groups have reinstated a boycott of Ford b/c of its continued advertising investments in LGBT media sources. Note that the original boycott had 43 participating groups. I'm not going to post a link to this garbage so you can just read the NYT for all the details).

Homo-bloggers around the country have been noting this little-boy cott as an example of just another desperately petty attempt by the wingnuts to isolate homos. But the evidence don't lie! We are a firmly entrenched target market for lots and lots and lots of advertising dollars.

The national LGBT labor organization Pride at Work has issued a statement making the excellent point that boycotting Ford is only going to hurt more American working families (30,000 workers are due to be laid off).

So all you anti-gay marriage zealots need to step up and explain to these 30,000 families how lesbians pose a greater threat to their families than losing their jobs, health insurance and pension. I'd really like to know.