Study: Arizona one of the worst places to be gay in corporate America (homosexual, hot)

[fengxg]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

Obviously you don't get it. They are not asking for special treatment. They just want to be treated like everyone else and not be discriminated against. My guess is you prefer it to be like it was in the past when homosexuals hid their orientation and pretended to be straight. So now when they just want to be able to come out, some people like yourself will insinuate that they are pushing their sexual orientation too much. What you fail to understand is they were facing so much discrimination and while it has improved, they still experience it. For example, it is absolutely asinine that Arizona as a STATE does not have an antidiscrimination law for homosexuals. It's nice to see that Tempe and Phoenix have it but the state as a whole should have it. Nonetheless, anti-discrimination laws for gays will one day affect all states just like gay marriage from the Supreme Court. Arizona might as well get on the right side of history and enact it now.

Furthermore, it is good for our economy. Gay couples are statistically better educated and higher earning than straight couples. So as a state, we want to recruit more educated higher earning people in general regardless of their sexual orientation. Failing to be progressive in this arena hurts our economy. So when you guys complain about "Where are the jobs" or "Why are there not more high paying jobs" Well all of this adds up. We need to position our state in a better light. The state earned a reputation for being intolerant since Jan Brewer took over. We need to reverse that and one way we can do that is by adopting a state-wide anti-discrimination law against homosexuals.

And I agree with others that we are much more tolerant than our reputation. In 2006, voters reject an anti-gay marriage bill; granted they approved it 2 years later but it shows that our state is not as conservative as it is often suggested. It's also nice that Phoenix and Tempe have anti-discrimination laws against homosexuals. And we approved gay marriage before the Supreme Court ruling. However, we could still improve and the state should have an anti-discrimination law.

Gay Couples More Educated, Higher-Income Than Heterosexual Couples - US News

When you enter Arizona, do you see a bill board near highway says "welcome to Arizona"? That greeting includes gays, so we are "gay friendly". From the other hand, please respect our rights to teach our kids to stay away from gays, because we are straight people and we want our kids to be like us.

BTW, we don't envy their high income, so please keep that to yourselves.

[JGMotorsport64]

Originally Posted by fengxg

When you enter Arizona, do you see a bill board near highway says "welcome to Arizona"? That greeting includes gays, so we are "gay friendly". From the other hand, please respect our rights to teach our kids to stay away from gays, because we are straight people and we want our kids to be like us.

BTW, we don't envy their high income, so please keep that to yourselves.

LOL, just no.

Some of the smartest and most successful people I know are homosexual. I'd definitely want my kids to learn from them. I'd also want them to learn tolerance, something you clearly aren't teaching.

[teddyearp]

You know, I grew up in the CSSR. I decided to move to Arizona. When I did and while I lived there I was very gay to be living is such a wonderful place. A place that pretty much had a live and let live attitude without forcing you to do or think otherwise.

Now that I live in the PNW I am not nearly as gay as when I lived in Arizona since here as well people pretty much frown on you if you do not think the way they do. I do get somewhat gay while I plan my return visits to Arizona. And I am very gay while I visit my adopted home state of Arizona. I actually hate to admit I was born and raised in the CSSR. I am planning to visit Arizona some time next year and that has me a bit gay.

The road to "tolerance" should be a two way street. However, I find it saddening to see that those on the one side of the street wish it to be a one way street, as they call those on the other side of the street to be in-tolerant.

A private business owned by private individuals should be able to make their own decisions.

[CodyW]

Living in Central Phoenix in my little bubble - yeah, being gay seems accepted and I don't feel too out of place.

In my place of employment - in government, for a city OTHER than Phoenix.. It's quite the opposite. I feel like my job could be at stake given the office environment. Granted, I know it's not "corporate" America, and it's not representative of the whole.. But I should not have to worry about water cooler conversations about the family outing last weekend just because my "family" is not conventional in some people's eyes.

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

Obviously you don't get it. They are not asking for special treatment. They just want to be treated like everyone else and not be discriminated against.

Don't want special treatment? Let me tell you a story from work just today...

We're having open enrollment for benefits at work. A homosexual male raised his hand and asked about signing up his "boyfriend" for benefits and the representative from the insurance company asked "is he your same-sex domestic partner?" to which he of course answered "yes". The representative said "sure you can sign him up on your plan".

Soon after that a female raised her hand and asked "can I sign my boyfriend up for benefits on my plan?" to which the representative of the insurance company stated "no, different sex domestic partners are not eligible".

We then couldn't get all the talking and mumbling to stop so the representative could continue with the presentation.

That sure seems like special treatment to me...

[Finger Laker]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

Don't want special treatment? Let me tell you a story from work just today...

We're having open enrollment for benefits at work. A homosexual male raised his hand and asked about signing up his "boyfriend" for benefits and the representative from the insurance company asked "is he your same-sex domestic partner?" to which he of course answered "yes". The representative said "sure you can sign him up on your plan".

Soon after that a female raised her hand and asked "can I sign my boyfriend up for benefits on my plan?" to which the representative of the insurance company stated "no, different sex domestic partners are not eligible".

We then couldn't get all the talking and mumbling to stop so the representative could continue with the presentation.

That sure seems like special treatment to me...

Why?

I don't think people understand what special treatment means.

We will deny same sex, consenting adult partners from signing a contract and getting a license.

That license provides many benefits, including ones that are related to insurance.

Insurance companies and businesses recognize that this group cannot sign the same document as everyone else, so in reaction to this create a path for coverage.

This does nothing to counter the thousands of other issues created by not allowing those adults to enter into a contract, but helps a little.

Then it gets called "special treatment"

I have no idea how this can be so murky to some

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by Finger Laker

Why?

I don't think people understand what special treatment means.

We will deny same sex, consenting adult partners from signing a contract and getting a license.

That license provides many benefits, including ones that are related to insurance.

Insurance companies and businesses recognize that this group cannot sign the same document as everyone else, so in reaction to this create a path for coverage.

This does nothing to counter the thousands of other issues created by not allowing those adults to enter into a contract, but helps a little.

Then it gets called "special treatment"

I have no idea how this can be so murky to some

What are you talking about?

Same sex marriage has been legal in Arizona for a year. This happened at work today, talk about making a topic "murky".

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by westcoastbabe

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/n...be-gay-in.html

One of the key things that we need to change about this state. We need to be more welcoming no matter how you identify sexually. Having equality policies in place is a great factor that aids in recruiting masses of talent to current businesses.

This is a lot of nonsense. Corporations in AZ are very welcoming to gays, and people from all walks of life. In fact, I've seen evidence that gays are sometimes given special treatment over non gays. It's a form of reverse discrimination which seeks to right the past wrongs, but it's nothing more than discrimination no matter how you look at it, which is still wrong. Everybody should be given equal opportunity in the workplace regardless of sexual orientation, race, color, gender, or whatever.

[i'm not a cookie]

Originally Posted by fengxg

When you enter Arizona, do you see a bill board near highway says "welcome to Arizona"? That greeting includes gays, so we are "gay friendly". From the other hand, please respect our rights to teach our kids to stay away from gays, because we are straight people and we want our kids to be like us.

BTW, we don't envy their high income, so please keep that to yourselves.

I honestly don't think you realize how big of a bigot you sound like. Wow.

[Jukesgrrl]

Originally Posted by westcoastbabe

http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/n...be-gay-in.html

One of the key things that we need to change about this state. We need to be more welcoming no matter how you identify sexually. Having equality policies in place is a great factor that aids in recruiting masses of talent to current businesses.

Originally Posted by stevek64

But then again, here's a rank that says something quite different:

Report: Phoenix 8th for most LGBT-friendly businesses

"A new report ranks Phoenix eighth in the country for cities with the largest number of gay-friendly businesses.

Global media organization Vocativ released a report this week in celebration of gay pride month. The study includes different lists ranking the nation's best cities for gay businesses, gay sports leagues and gay politicians." ...

I think the key difference here is ENTIRE STATE versus the CITIES OF PHOENIX and TUCSON. I lived in Pennsylvania before I came here. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, LGBT-friendly, very much so. The rest of the state, not so much. You know the famous saying about Pennsylvania, "It's Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between." You could say the same about Arizona.

All my LGBT friends deal with it. They move to cities or keep their heads down. They should be welcome EVERYWHERE, but they aren't now. Arizona is no different that the rest of the country, which doesn't make it right, but it isn't shocking.

By the way, Equality Arizona (EQAZ) is a great organization, fighting for equal rights and opportunities for ALL the citizens of this state. They're very active and very successful at making a difference. They're having their 24th anniversary this year, and they continue to grow and create change:
Equality Arizona