Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Gee I've had Gay co-workers and Gay Employers and Gay friends and Chinese and Korean and Hawaiian and Black friends, too. I don't understand any of this thread. It is now 2011, seems like a few folks need to pull their heads out of the sand.
Koale
Honestly in my profession, probably more gay than straight coworkers. It's never been an issue. Your attitude would be a problem in my industry though--the complaining about the lack of understanding or acceptance of your alternative lifestyle but in return you offer no acceptance or understanding of other people and their lives. Hypocrisy is not something generally accepted in my industry.
What does it mean, anyway, to 'not believe' in gay? Do you think gay is a myth or something?
Have you ever had a GAY / Lesbian Coworker? What were they like? Did they cause social problems for their coworkers? Did you see them often discriminated, laid off, or restructured out of a job because they were gay / lesbian? How did coworkers get along and treat them? Did they sometimes pull off some nasty "gay" politics?
It makes me wonder why places discriminate against gays so much...
I'm not interested in gay marriage; I'm thinking gay rights for employment is the most important! But I don't know any gay people or have any gay friends. My former landlord is my friend and he tells me all the gays he rents to have unstable careers and their jobs don't last long! -- Is this because they are "problems" or because they are discriminated against so much!?
Not only do we have them, we offer HEALTH INSURANCE to "life partners" now. Now, the rub here is that a man can get insurance on his live in male lover, a woman can insure her female lover BUT a straight man that is shacked up with a woman can not get health insurance or a woman shacked up with a man can't get insurance through the company. BIG class action discrimination suit going on right now over this. Gotta be gay....just not right.
I have no trouble working around them and everything is usually cool. We do have a "sticky" situation in the corporate building right now (about 1500 employees) because we have two "shims" working in the call center. One shares he is completely "transformed" and the other doesn't talk about it. Both pass for women and the one is actually hot. Yuck.
There were grievances filed by both men and women about restroom use. Men didn't want to pee with them and neither did the women. So...they got their own bathroom on the top floor where the VP's and directors all are. A label stating "men/women" was placed on the door. Everyone is happy now.
We have had problems in the past with "pushy" gays that won't take no for an answer when trying to "convert" or date straight people, or those who feel the need to touch people where they shouldn't be touched, but they are usually sent to HR and given the speech and cool their jets. All in all, not a problem.
In my long career of working in interior design, as a flight attendant, a hairdresser, in the fashion industry, and as a stagehand for Barbara Streisand I've never had a gay coworker.
Wow, I know so many here don't even know where to start.. Our VP is a lesbian with a registered domestic partner, I previously worked for a Manager who was a lesbian, the person who replaced me after I left was gay, my best friend in that unit was gay, etc, etc. And I just found out the person sitting next to my office is gay.
We even have a Gay/Lesbian Staff Association here. There's just no room for discrimination of any kind.
Not only do we have them, we offer HEALTH INSURANCE to "life partners" now. Now, the rub here is that a man can get insurance on his live in male lover, a woman can insure her female lover BUT a straight man that is shacked up with a woman can not get health insurance or a woman shacked up with a man can't get insurance through the company. BIG class action discrimination suit going on right now over this. Gotta be gay....just not right.
I
We have had problems in the past with "pushy" gays that won't take no for an answer when trying to "convert" or date straight people, or those who feel the need to touch people where they shouldn't be touched, but they are usually sent to HR and given the speech and cool their jets. All in all, not a problem.
It may not seem right to you, but those straight men and women can get married and be covered. We can't, and that is not right. When we can get married and automatically be insured as a married spouse then I am all for getting rid of insurance for life partners.
Years ago, I was employed by a lesbian couple for a few weeks. Was interview by one one of them, but met the other one a day later (after I was hired). The position was a live-in/rent-utilities paid for with no salary. I slept in a room that was connected to their utility room. They were in their mid 20's and treated me fine. The one girl was the very "masculine" type while the other wore a lot of makeup on and very lady-like.
At a company I use to work for, there was a lesian driver who was transfered to our department from another department. She felt uncomfortable in the department cause she thought the Director didn't like her cause she was a lesbian. He didn't care, but she didn't ask to be transfered to our department and wanted to go back to her previous department/job, in which she did. My wife and I seen her and her partner at a Christmas party and said "hello" to them. The same company hired a lesbian CEO about a year after I was there. I met the new CEO and could tell, basically thru a handshake, that the new CEO was a lesbian.......and she was. It basically went around the company very quick that the Board of Directors had hired a lesbian for the CEO position.
I had a first at my job- a psychiatric hospital- an administrative assistant on a unit sent around an email explaining that she, formerly, Meghan, will now be known as Josh, completing a transition. He also said that he'd understand if people forgot the name/pronoun thing!
My father once asked me why I hung around with so many gay men- I told him that, if I depended on straight, single, interesting men for a social life, I'd have hung myself around 1976, plus, I wouldn't have had a decent home meal ever!
(The food friends have all scattered... gotta get out the microwave again).
I live in San Francisco... 'nuff said! I've actually had two lesbian bosses, and a good percentage of the men I've worked with were gay - it's more of a female-dominated profession, so I guess that's to be expected (most straight guys wouldn't think to become a librarian). I've never noticed any discrimination against my gay co-workers, again partly because we're in San Francisco. Why do you think I love it here?
Not only do we have them, we offer HEALTH INSURANCE to "life partners" now. Now, the rub here is that a man can get insurance on his live in male lover, a woman can insure her female lover BUT a straight man that is shacked up with a woman can not get health insurance or a woman shacked up with a man can't get insurance through the company. BIG class action discrimination suit going on right now over this. Gotta be gay....just not right.
It's not right, because you happen to be INCORRECT... at least here in California, straight couples who are "shacked up" can register as domestic partners for insurance purposes. They ask you right on those HR forms, and it doesn't even specify gender/s - just asks if you have a domestic partner to add on your plan, and all you need to do is register at City Hall for that. My friend's mother & step-father did that for over 20 years, before they finally decided to take the official plunge. So there's no discrimination in terms of domestic partnership, only when it comes to marriage. Therefore, who really gets the short end of the stick? Hmmmmm.
Quote:
There were grievances filed by both men and women about restroom use. Men didn't want to pee with them and neither did the women. So...they got their own bathroom on the top floor where the VP's and directors all are. A label stating "men/women" was placed on the door. Everyone is happy now.
Boy, you sure work with some uptight people! I've shared many a restroom with transgendered folks (also lesbians & gay men), and it was never an issue... I'm surprised even the women would have a problem with it, since we tend to care less about that stuff.
Funny story: I was performing in a concert with the Gay Men's Chorus & Community Women's Orchestra last year, and at our rehearsal space there was a sign on the restroom door reading "BIO girls only." I asked one of the guys what that meant, and he replied "Oh sweetie... it means girls who were actually born girls." LOL I'm sure we wouldn't have minded sharing, but I guess they didn't want to stir up any trouble!
Last edited by gizmo980; 01-04-2011 at 10:37 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've actually had two lesbian bosses, and a good percentage of the men I've worked with were gay - it's more of a female-dominated profession, so I guess that's to be expected (most straight guys wouldn't think to become a librarian). I've never noticed any discrimination against my gay co-workers, again partly because we're in San Francisco. Why do you think I love it here? 
