Equality Florida OneOrlando.org Metropolitan Business Association (Central Florida's LGBT Chamber of Commerce)
for spreading the word through their networks of the importance of this petition.
And of course, to the growing number of individuals who have worked on the front lines and behind the scenes to this point and of course the signers of the petition.
Several months ago a group of Orlando Health team members presented a proposal to key executive leaders of the organization calling for the development of a diversity initiative to benefit the organization, its team members, physicians and patients and the community at large. After several meetings with key leaders within the organization nothing has happened.
There are several inconsistencies within Orlando Health's team member and patient policies in regard to diversity/multicultural awareness.
Some examples include:
-Orlando Health does not allow team members to form groups to discuss diversity/multicultural awareness.
-Orlando Health does not educate its team members about the culturally competent way to treat its patients and team members in regard to important racial and ethnic differences.
-Orlando Health protects a team member's sexual orientation in its team member nondiscrimination policy, but does not do so in its patient's bill of rights.
-Orlando Health does not protect the gender identity of its team members or patients.
-Orlando Health does not provide domestic partner health benefits for its team members, regardless of sexual orientation.
-Orlando Health's mission is "to improve the health and quality of life of the individuals and communities we serve." Due to the above and the unknown number of opportunities for recruitment and advancement the organization has not yet explored, Orlando Health is behind other business leaders.
As the fifth largest employer in Central Florida, it is time Orlando Health lead like Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, SeaWorld Orlando and several other top employers in the market and develop a diversity/multicultural awareness initiative that will ultimately lead to the organization establishing a diversity/multicultural office to better achieve its mission.
Please join me in signing this petition to tell Orlando Health it is time to embrace positive change.
I have to share this video. This is EXACTLY what the LGBT community needs! Straight families standing side by side LGBT families to protect marriage equality in Maine.
Some may say I am a bit on the Debbie Downer side with my writing. Well, yeah, OK I guess I embrace that. There is part of me that ends up with the 'feel good' sensation when I share poignant stories and information about the struggles of marginalized groups and their fight for equality. In the sharing I hope all my readers can be inspired to do what they can to continue bridging divides and forging forward towards a level playing field for all. So, for me sharing the bad does make me feel good.
As promised, this blog not only serves as a clearinghouse of stories, but as a place to explore the power of performance and performance material to change lives and minds. Below is a monologue I am working on for an audition next week. It fits right in with the goals of this blog and is a reminder of what it took during the height of the AIDS crisis for people to wake up and make change a reality. The monologue comes from Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart. Kramer is a role model of mine. It is his integration of playwrighting, activism and other writing that is an inspiration to the work I do.
And more specifically, I share Kramer's approach towards fighting for LGBT equal rights. Kramer is quoted in this month's Advocate.com article Hope and History by Michael Joseph Gross. Kramer says about the fight for LGBT equal rights, "We are not here to make friends. “We are here to get our rights. And these two statements do not join together to blend into one happy halo."
While embracing Kramer's sentiments, I do hold to my original goals of this blog. I do want to hear dissenting voices - and understand them. I do want to attract various perspectives to this debate. But, I would be doing a disservice to the LGBT and supportive community if I did not continue hammering home the gravity of what this fight is up against. That is why I choose to continue exposing the uncomfortable stories that shape LGBT discrimination and hate - being a Debbie Downer. Though the dialogue will always remain open here, we all must realize that as in any fight for equality it is the gritty persistence that doesn't allow us to keep looking away. And like all fights for civil rights in this country, everyone must accept at some point the heat will rise to uncomfortable levels for all Americans until rights are granted for the marginalized group.
I believe we are on that cusp now in regard to LGBT equality. With movements like the upcoming National Equality March we are about to see what the LGBT and supportive community is made of - really made of. You don't have to be a political science expert to know that the pendulum of power in this country perpetually swings and the rest of 2009 is prime time to go after LGBT equal rights. I think there are enough smart people out there on both sides of this fight to know this fall brings with it a consuming fire that can only be extinguished by 100% equal rights for all LGBT Americans in all matters civil and criminal.
Supporters of LGBT equality like me will always do what we can to engage in the conversations that help change hearts and minds. But the time has come when the slow progress of niceties must be usurped for a while by bold action to claim the prize. Then, in the aftermath we can see who was there in the fight, who was beside the fight, who fought against equality and lost, who still fights against equal rights after the victory and who carries shame for not doing their part to be on the right side of history.
What will get each of us off our asses to get to the National Equality March? What will cause us to say now is the time to get real and realize LGBT and supportive Americans are in for the fight of our lives?
The following monologue reflects the public attitudes of the 1980's at the beginning of the AIDS crisis. In the 1980's and 90's LGBT people had a lot of motivation to get out there and Act Up. Gay men were dying from AIDS in droves and our governments were turning a blind eye while large swaths of our community were annihilated. The grief, anger and fear got LGBT people out there making lots of noise - and things changed. Governments started taking the AIDS crisis seriously.
Never forget, LGBT people die every day around the world - for no other reason than they are LGBT. Maybe this monologue will be a cold reminder of how the 80's were not too long ago - and how hate towards LGBT people is a constant today. We should all take the time to get outside our comfort zones and realize each LGBT person who is beaten, killed or otherwise discriminated against is one person a degree closer to each LGBT person and their loved ones. A bit closer to you. A bit closer to me.
Whether real stories or representations through art - I hope my continued sharing help minimize the margins for an equal future.
From The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer
"Bruce's partner has died of AIDS at a time when people did not understand the condition properly, and no successful treatment had yet been found. He is visiting Ned, an activist in getting society to accept and understand what is happening in the gay community" (Tucker, P and Ozanne, C. (2007). Award Monologues for Men. New York: Routledge).
"Bruce: He's been dead a week.
Ned: I didn't know he was so close.
Bruce: No one did. He wouldn't tell anyone. Do you know why? Because of me. Because he knows I'm so scared I'm some sort of carrier. This makes three people I've been with who are dead. I went to Emma and I begged her: please test me somehow, please tell me if I'm giving this to people. And she said she couldn’t, there isn't any way they can find out anything because they still don't know what they're looking for. Albert, I think I loved him best of all, and he went so fast. His mother wanted him back in Phoenix before he died, this was last week when it was obvious, so I get permission from Emma and bundle him all up and take him to the plane in an ambulance. The pilot wouldn't take off and I refused to leave the plane - you would have been proud of me - so finally they got another pilot. Then, after we take off, Albert loses his mind, not recognizing me, not knowing where he is or that he's going home, and then, right there on the plane, he becomes . . . incontinent. He starts doing it in his pants and all over the seat; shit, piss, everything. I pulled down my suitcase and yanked out whatever clothes were in there and I start mopping him up as best I can, and all these people are staring at us and moving away in droves and . . . I ram all these clothes back in the suitcase and I sit there holding his hand, saying, 'Albert, please, no more, hold it in, man, I beg you, just for us, for Bruce and Albert.' And when we got to Phoenix, there's a police van waiting for us and all the police are in complete protective rubber clothing, they looked like fucking astronauts, and by the time we got to the hospital where his mother had fixed up his room real nice, Albert was dead. (Ned starts toward him.) Wait, it gets worse. The hospital doctors refused to examine him to put a cause of death on the death certificate, and without a death certificate the undertakers wouldn't take him away, and neither would the police. Finally, some orderly comes in and stuffs Albert in a heavy-duty Glad Bag and motions us with his finder to follow and he puts him out in the back alley with the garbage. He says, 'Hey, man. See what a big favor I've done for you, I got him out, I want fifty bucks.' I paid him and then his mother and I carried the bag to her car and we finally found a black undertaker who cremated him for a thousand dollars, no questions asked.
Would you and Felix mind if I spent the night on your sofa? Just one night. I don't want to go home."
Keep the above in mind as you are talking to those who don't understand why it is so important we stay vigilant to achieve 100% equality in all matters civil and criminal in America NOW.
How would you feel if these numbers reflected African Americans? Please comment below.
I should clarify a few things I neglected to include in my last post. When I came out of my advocacy closet there were family members who were right by my side. Some telling me privately they fully supported LGBT equality and some, like two of my straight sisters who made their support public. (The sister referenced in the last post sent an email to the family after the November election supporting LGBT equality. My other sister seen to the right is known as San Diego's Fabulous Fruit Fly, always ready and waiting to flit to the front lines to fight for LGBT rights. Here she is seen marching along side the 2008 LGBT Pride parade in San Diego.)
My family is a mixture like any other. There are those who understand why fighting for LGBT equality is vital for social advancement and will get out there often to march with their LGBT family members. There are those family members who will do an occasional activity to show their support and shake up the system. There are those who will privately tell you, 'I'm proud of you. You're doing the right thing' but who won't let others know of their support. There are those who politely disagree. And there are those who will go to hurtful and unreasonable lengths to avoid dealing with the fact they are discriminating against one of their own.
Fortunate for me, none of my family are on the saddest end of the spectrum. None of them have disowned me. Maybe I have done more of the disowning of those most unwilling to hear my pleas because I can't stomach the feeling of being around family members who really don't get how their actions are hurting one of their own.
Maybe at that time later in life when my dissenting family members need me the most I will soften my animosity towards their hate and discrimination. When I see a loved one fighting for their life maybe I'll bend under the hopes that if I am caring and loving in their final days they will finally say 'I'm sorry I voted against your equal rights. I was wrong.' Maybe when they are breathing their last breath they will see we are all just trying to do the same thing on this planet - live and let live.
Late last year, after fully emerging from my advocacy closet, I spoke at the Central Florida Light Up the Night for Equal Rights event, part of the national Join the Impact network of events fighting against LGBT discrimination and hate on a renewed national platform.
Due to one-on-one conversations I had with my family members before and after the November election that wrote more discrimination against LGBT people into the Florida Constitution, I decided I would not do as my family would have liked from those conversations. I would not drop ‘the issue’ once I learned how many of them voted against my rights. I decided to come out publicly sharing my story at the Light Up the Night for Equal Rights event so others could know my experience.
I was very angry at my sister for asking me not to bring up this topic at family holiday gatherings. I gave much thought to this request. My sister, who supports LGBT equality didn't feel family events were places for such conversations. Further, she believed no one in the family was going to change their minds, so talking about LGBT equality would only spur on a fiery debate, detracting from the joy of the holiday season.
Such contention drove a massive wedge between my family and me. During this time it was a shock to my system to hear my mother say in support of her position to deny me my rights, "We love both you and Joey (a partner I was with for six years who the family knew and loved). We bought him Christmas and birthday gifts all these years." It hurt equally when my sister said, "For the kids’ sake. Please don't talk about equality at Thanksgiving."
Gifts are not enough – and for the kids’ sake I hoped they would have had the opportunity to get involved and learn both sides of this vital debate. The kids are living in a time I believe, that will shape civil rights for LGBT people throughout their entire lives. They need to know what is happening around them because as continuing pressures mount, they should be well versed in this fight just as children in the 1960’s should have known the gravity and circumstances of desegregation or kids in the 1920’s should have been fully aware of the fight for woman’s rights or prior to that about the abolition of slavery.
The issues of our world don’t belong to adults. For the children’s sake they ought to be taught about the vast differences of the people around them and what they can do to help promote equality for all.
Though I still believe any place is a good place to talk about equal rights, I see now that an alternate approach to using holiday time to discuss our differences might have been for me to hold a family meeting outside of the ‘joy’ of the season. I could have invited the whole family to sit down at a table and share my concerns on the issue while listening to theirs. This still could have ended up like some of the crazed health care reform town hall debates as of late where the opposition rants instead of carries on reasoned debate. But, to get your opposition in a room for the hopes of reasoned discourse is always the most honorable of goals.
A Future Aspiration -
I have to be honest; the day will come when I am in another long term committed relationship. I want my partner (or should I start calling him my husband - I think I shall) and I to know our union is as secure as any of my family's marriages. And when the day comes when child must be parent, as is inevitably the case, I want my family to be in full support of my equal rights so I can be in full support of them as they wane. It may sound harsh right now, but I am not presently inclined to take care of my parents in their final years or if they were to become sick today because they do not support my rights. My current stance is, 'My husband and I are not going to lay a finger on my ailing parents. My parents are not going to move in with us and burden us without first supporting our protections for equal access to the over 1,000 protections they take for granted every day.'
I would never vote against the equal rights of my loved ones. And it angers me still that they did so to me. And of course, in every case their vote was based on their ‘faith’; meaning the beliefs they espouse which are based on interpretations of the Bible given to them by their religious leaders. It really is unfortunate churches don't have 'Reality Check Day' to bring in people of opposing views on subjects such as LGBT equality so parishioners can see that the message from the pulpit is only one viewpoint on these complex issues that affect millions of Americans.
And families like mine should make an effort on their own to really get to know LGBT people other than the LGBT people in their family. The elders in such families couldn’t look at other LGBT people as they do their own – as ‘kids.’ (Thought I am 32 years old, we all know how older family members tend to always see kids in the family as, well kids. Which, of course cycles back to the need to elevate kids to be more active participants in the family and encouraged to share ideas and information in regard to cultural diversity.)
As you may be able to tell, I can't say due to this divide I am especially close to the adults in my birth family (except my sister - I believe she and I are starting to see eye to eye). And their discriminatory views are the reason why our divide persists. I guess they are content they will go on to their eternal reward not having the relationship with me I have always hoped for. We'll see where the future leads. I hope my family ends up coming around and ending up on the right side of history. If they do, I’ll be sure to celebrate such news here.
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Here is a link to the speech I gave late last year. It was given after Thanksgiving and before Christmas:
PS I am working on another speech right now that will be submitted to the Equality Idol Contest for the National Equality March. If my three minute video is chosen, it will compete on You Tube as one of the top five videos submitted for the contest. The winner will be flown to WashingtonDC to speak at the National Equality March on October 11-12. Keep your eyes peeled if I get chosen to be in the top five. I’ll need as many votes as I can get to win. Once I complete the video I will upload it here first so you will get the sneak peek before voting opens.
I attended several other churches. Some I forget the names of. All were of the Christian faith and teachings.
So, what I say here comes from a place of someone who has, like many non-believers once believed.
My experience as a Christian was what you see above. It was like a jumble of thoughts and feelings of joy that covered up some serious fears I didn’t dare address. How could I? If any of my afeared questions were to be true, how would I come to grips with such a grave reality? I often wonder, is what I experienced more or less universal among believers or was I unusually paranoid? My lifelong doubt led to a long journey away from the church’s teachings allowing me to separate the clamor of thoughts from the underlying fears I had so I could deal with each of them appropriately to make my peace. That’s how I became an atheist.
A simple search on the subject of Christian doubt reveals frustrating references to scriptures such as blogger Cheryl Stotesbery’s explanation, “Perhaps the primary cause is Satan (Genesis 3:1-6).” A more formal search produces doubt eradication reasoning like that of the American Baptist Church USA (ABCUSA). The ABCUSA includes doubt in their vision statement, but only to say, “The heart of the gospel is God's redemptive love. In our life together, the world will see the power of forgiveness to overcome alienation, the strength of love to transform hate, the power of grace to break the bonds of guilt, the triumph of hope over despair, and the victory of faith over doubt.” Again to a nonbeliever, this is frustratingly cyclical.
I understand the logic that relates everything good, bad, holy and unjust to biblical scripture. That is the whole point of using the bible as the primary reference point for all topics of faith discussion. What I don’t understand - and really would like some comment on (other than what I pose below) – is how believers can overlook the drastic changes in believer’s opinions of scripture throughout history? I know what the retort is – ‘Just because certain people used scriptures like Genesis 9 25-27 to justify slavery, doesn’t make those people right in the eyes of god. There are several scriptures that make it clear slavery is a sin.’
OK, so doesn’t that bring up a vital point when examining the bible? If a book is contradicting itself, how can you trust any of it to be true? Of course, to this I have usually heard things like, ‘I’m not going to talk to you about this. You’re not going to change my mind so just drop it.’
For a long, long time I did just drop it. I thought, ‘We are never going to see eye to eye so it’s a waste.’ And then as I found my own voice I realized just dropping it is part of the cycle that needs to be broken.
I am not influenced by Satan when I question the logic of believers. I am not possessed. I can’t prove that of course – just as believers can’t prove I am anything but a normal, logical person.
When I hear Christians say they are a marginalized group, that their rights are being threatened – I am thoroughly confused. They won’t engage me in a civil conversation discussing questions that to a child would seem obvious. What goes through the mind of the believer when you question what seems worth questioning? Do they really feel resolved that they are right and I am wrong? Or is there a schism where part of them insists what they hold to be true is true so they can enjoy the afterlife, see their loved ones again and have something to hold to that makes sense of this life while part of them is too afraid to face the possibility that God may not exist?
As a non believer, I want believers and non believers alike to question me. I invite that. Talking with others can educate me and make me a better person. Isn’t that one of the tenets of learning? Why would it not be applied to matters of faith? Wouldn’t having civilized conversations with people and answering all their questions help a marginalized group become more main stream?
Question for you…
Why do you believe/not believe in God? Please post your reply below.
In an effort to build my audience (seemingly self serving, but read on) please sign up to follow my blog. Much of what I set out to do here is to bring these stories and thoughts to a broader audience. I am interested in finding ways to open the debate with those who support LGBT equality as well as those who currently oppose LGBT rights. Though adding my perspectives to the struggles and victories towards LGBT equality is something I hope inspires others, it is vital to keep exposing more and more people of varying viewpoints to the content posted here.
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In 2002, I decided it was time to step out onto the public scene and join the fight for LGBT equality. One may think my home at the time, Orlando, FL has always been a progressive city where LGBT citizens are awarded full protection under the law. One may think this because Central Florida is home to vacation giants Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando, all of which have very inclusive policies protecting their LGBT team members – or maybe I should say LGB team members. I’m not sure any of them are fully inclusive of transgender team members, something that needs to change.
But, Orlando was not in 2002 as open and inviting to LGBT people as city officials like former Mayor Glenda Hood would have wanted people to think. So a group of LGBT and supportive activists had enough. They staged protest speeches on the steps of city hall, sent letters, postcards and placed phone calls to city council and the mayor and worked with supportive city council members like Patty Sheehan and Daisy Lynum to introduce adding sexual orientation to the nondiscrimination protections in chapter 57 of the city’s code.
I remember going to the protest speeches outside city hall. That’s where I got fired up. That’s where I decided I had the power too – to stand up for my rights. I recently feltbackhanded, under the covers hate on the job because of being gay. And timing couldn’t have been better for me to open my mouth in retaliation.
At the time I worked for Mobile Mini Inc., a national storage container and office rental/purchase company. In less than a year I worked my way up the ranks to be the Central Florida branch’s top sales associate. I was also quickly climbing the company’s national sales ranks. I was doing quite well.
During my tenure a new branch manager, Roy Ellis was promoted from an out of state branch. Roy had been a leading sales representative with the company for several years. He was in his 60’s, a heavy smoker, virtually computer illiterate and quite short tempered (mostly because he hadn’t the first clue how to manage those in his charge). There were many, many occasions when Roy would page me and ask me to come into his office to help him navigate an indecomposable Excel spreadsheet. Every time I would reluctantly go, sometimes taking more than thirty minutes explaining the most germane elements of the software. Each time I spent giving 101 lessons to my boss I lost valuable time on the phones earning my living.
Mind you, especially back then I had an opinion about everything. If I didn’t agree with a decision this incompetent man made I would respectfully voice my thoughts. This wasn’t something Roy wanted to balance with all the apparent stress he had to deal with due to his technical incompetence and clueless state of leadership. But after giving so much of my time to train the trainer I was doubly offended when a co-worker told me one day that due to the friction Roy and I experienced he vented to her, “I want to fire that fucking queer.”
I was stunned. I totally had one of those, ‘this can’t be real’ moments. I really didn’t believe it at first. I wanted to shrug it off as mere gossip. Then, in a conversation with another coworker who was also present when the comment was made I was reassured that this was in fact real. This was something I had to deal with. And though I had to accept this was said I remember not feeling much of anything. It was as if I knew to do the right thing I had to report this incident to human resources and have an investigation conducted but there was something inside me that automatically disconnected the comment from me. I almost gave him the benefit of the doubt – ‘He knows not what he did.’ And I think through all that ensued I kept part of that sentiment with me.
If I was black and he said “I want to fire that fucking nigger”, would I have felt the same way? Wouldn’t anyone who was the recipient of a racial comment automatically have a gut wrenching feeling? Why didn’t I have that feeling about his equally offensive comment? Don’t answer yet. I have an interactive activity at the end of this blog. Take a few moments there to tackle these questions.
So, yes I filed a complaint with HR. And yes, both coworkers who witnessed the comment along with Roy denied the incident took place (surprise!). And no, I had no legal recourse to pursue because Central Florida did not (and still does not outside the city of Orlando) protect LGBT people from such hate speech on the job.
Though I disconnected emotionally from the incident itself, I was inspired enough to get involved with the chapter 57 fight. I helped get a billboard erected across from city hall urging city council to vote yes. I spoke out on radio and television to educate the public and encourage them to make their voices heard. I did all this all the while knowing a. the inclusion of sexual orientation into the city code did not affect me and my situation because I worked outside the city limits and b. I was putting myself at greater risk of losing my job speaking out so publicly. I hadn’t fully internalized Roy’s comment, but I definitely was very afraid about speaking out. I remember that vividly.
I also remember vividly how I felt as I stood in front of city council the day of the vote. I was given my sixty seconds of comment along with hundreds of other citizens before our elected officials were to decide the fate of an entire group of people. I stared city council and the mayor in the eyes and nervously told them I didn’t want to live in a city that does not protect people like me. I was not asking for special rights. I vaguely shared that I was recently discriminated on the job, but I was too afraid to share with them the details of what happened. I just wanted to have recourse so if an incident like mine happened again I could have the law on my side.
Had I to do it over again, I would have told them exactly why they needed to include sexual orientation into the city code. I would have said, at risk of losing my job that two witnesses told me recently my boss said about me, “I want to fire that fucking queer.”
I leave you with this…
How do you feel when I say the following? Do any of these make you jump out of your skin more than others? And if so, why do you think that is?
I want to fire that fucking woman.
I want to fire that fucking man.
I want to fire that fucking spic.
I want to fire that fucking nigger.
I want to fire that fucking kike.
I want to fire that fucking queer.
I want to fire that fucking redneck.
I want to fire that fucking kid.
I want to fire that fucking grandpa.
I want to fire that fucking wop.
I want to fire that fucking dike.
I want to fire that fucking fake woman.
I want to fire that fucking fake man.
Thanks for reading.
Alan L. Bounville
PS Adding sexual orientation to chapter 57’s protections passed by a 4-3 vote. Now only if gender identity were added – and if all of Central Florida embraced the same overdue protections…
Minimize the Margins is a blog that shares serious and humorous stories and creative projects about the lives of marginalized people. Through sharing, Minimize the Margins works to bring diverse people together to discuss, through the postings here what can be done to ensure all people are treated as equals under the law.
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