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Changing Hearts
Nov. 19th, 2004 09:26 amI shared this memory at the heart circle in Silver Spring Wednesday night:
I worked for thirteen years at the nonprofit in Baltimore, starting in 1990. One day, probably in 1992 or so, the company held one of its staff development events off-site, a "diversity day." I decided that if they wanted diversity, by God, I was going to give it to them and showed up wearing my most visible emblem of Gay Pride -- my square dance club shirt, which was a striking design incorporating the Maryland Flag. I came out to the whole company that day -- at least, the ones with which I hadn't yet confided.
Now, all good corporate staff development events have employee surveys to demonstrate some metrics that the effort was actually worth the time and the money. This was no different. Everybody completed their surveys, turned them in, and the results were tabulated by the executive secretary and slid into our individual mail boxes.
I arrived at work that day and headed straight for my desk. I usually didn't get much mail from the outside world, and sometimes didn't check my box daily. Then my coworkers started dropping by my desk. "Have you seen the feedback?" they asked me. When I replied that I hadn't, they said, "You should go read it."
( Read more )
I worked for thirteen years at the nonprofit in Baltimore, starting in 1990. One day, probably in 1992 or so, the company held one of its staff development events off-site, a "diversity day." I decided that if they wanted diversity, by God, I was going to give it to them and showed up wearing my most visible emblem of Gay Pride -- my square dance club shirt, which was a striking design incorporating the Maryland Flag. I came out to the whole company that day -- at least, the ones with which I hadn't yet confided.
Now, all good corporate staff development events have employee surveys to demonstrate some metrics that the effort was actually worth the time and the money. This was no different. Everybody completed their surveys, turned them in, and the results were tabulated by the executive secretary and slid into our individual mail boxes.
I arrived at work that day and headed straight for my desk. I usually didn't get much mail from the outside world, and sometimes didn't check my box daily. Then my coworkers started dropping by my desk. "Have you seen the feedback?" they asked me. When I replied that I hadn't, they said, "You should go read it."
( Read more )
