From:  (Craig Webb)
Newsgroups: ba.motss
Subject: Living Duality
Date: 5 Oct 92 15:54:15 GMT
Distribution: ca
Organization: Apple Computer, Inc.

>From the Merc

GAYS LEARN BENEFITS OF COMING OUT AT WORK

Start name-dropping, put a photo of your lover on your desk,
tell your boss up front.  Or, as another way to come out on the
job, lobby for domestic partner benefits at your company.
Many gays and lesbians lead dual lives, one at the office and
one at home.  Perhaps they've seen other gay employees get
rejected and harassed, or maybe they just fear such treatment,
so they hide.  They slink away from talk about weekend plans.
They purposely may bring an opposite-sex friend to the
company picnic.
Keeping a distance from co-workers can be fatal at organizations
that stress teamwork and trust, employment consultants and
employees said Saturday at the second annual Lesbian and Gay
Workplace Issues Conference at Stanford University.
  "It's too much work to lie, monitor, censor, avoid," said
consultant Rheua Stakely.  About 300 gay men, lesbians and
bisexuals from as far away as the Easy Coast and Canada came
to share tales and tips at the conference.
A local community college professor and counselor said she is
torn when gay students seek her advice but don't know she's
lesbian.  "I must be homophobic if I feel you can't put my name
in the paper," she said, adding that she isn't ready to walk into
her classroom on Monday and have her students call her a "queer".
Some gays are using the employment benefits route to come out.
Jennifer smith, an inspector with the East Bay Municipal Unity
District, started working with an openly gay co-worker to get
health coverage for domestic partners about six months ago.
That prompted Smith to come out - she volunteered to be listed
as the contact person on a flier.
Smith hasn't received any negative feedback from colleagues.
"They'll ask me about the domestic partner issue," she said.
"That will lead to a discussion about what it means for me, and
my personal lifestyle."  Now, she said, she can mention her
partner "just like every heterosexual person gets to do all the
time."
As to extending benefits to [DPs], her employer doesn't want
to be on the cutting edge, "but (it doesn't) want to be the last,"
Smith said.  The district already has a non-discrimination clause
and bereavement benefits for gays, she added.
More than 30 employers nationwide - including [BART], Ben &
Jerry's Ice Cream, the cities of Berkeley, San Francisco and 
Seattle, and San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties - either have or
have announced plans extending health coverage to employees'
domestic partners, said Richard Jennings, executive director
of Hollywood Support, a group that tries to counter discrimination
based on sexual orientation.
Because benefits make up about 30 percent of a worker's total
compensation, in essence, employees whose partners aren't
covered aren't getting equal pay for equal work, he said.
Only about 0.5 percent of a company's employees are likely to
choose the coverage, Jennings said.
One way to lobby may be to do as your employer does: Take a
corporate approach , said Jeff Bowles, fresh from successfully
negotiating [DP] benefits at Ask Computer Systems in Mountain
View.
He and his co-workers did homework on the personalities of
human resources officials, gave materials and proposals to them
in advance and asked friendly managers for advice.  At meetings,
"we tried to control our body language and appear reasonable,"
he said, prompting laughter from the audience.
It's important to pick allies, speakers said.
Bennet Marks, a co-chairman of Apple Computer Inc.'s gay
employee group, said that responses from Apple Computer
executives who haven't come out range from "moderately helpful
to turning and running away whenever we get within 20 feet of
them" - even though most other employees may know they are 
gay.
"I would much rather work with sympathetic [strayt] people than
closeted gay people on these issues," Marks said.
In July, Apple began allowing its workers to use sick leave,
bereavement leave, relocation aid and child care to assist their
[DPs].  Gay employees are pushing to add medical and dental
benefits, which may cost about $1 million a year, said Claire
Slemmer, a member of the family needs task force.
Slemmer, who came out upon joining the task force last year,
said that a benefits policy can nudge others to emerge.  "More
proof that the company gives of its respect and willingness to
be fair to gays and lesbians (and to promote) a safe workplace...
makes it safe for people to come out," she said.

\aliscafo/
Newsgroups: ba.motss