ERG's, EAG's, etc.

[flatlander_48]

Just so everybody knows:

ERG = Employee Resource Group
EAG = Employee Affinity Group

I am a member of an LGBT ERG group at work. We have about 15 members, about half of which are allies. For the record, I identify as a "B" with some degree of "T". Within the company, there are many other ERG's for Chinese heritage, Asian (everybody else), black, Latino, etc.

For the last couple of months I, along 3 others have been working on setting up a joint meeting with one of the other ERG's. This was tried a few years back and it went so poorly (I was not in attendance, so my info is secondhand) that it never happened again. Basically a member of the other group spewed a bunch of negative stuff about gay people, how they should all be removed from the earth, etc. Unfortunately the meeting was not well managed from a group dynamics standpoint and the result was that people were really turned off.

So in recent times, a leader of the other group, who is also a good friend, approached me to see if folks were interested in meeting again. He felt that his group had evolved far enough (and the really negative elements have departed) so that some real information sharing and understanding could take place. So, this is all scheduled to happen next Friday (1/18) and I am going to moderate.

That's the background. The tricky part is this. I have told some trusted co-workers that I am bisexual and that this is in part why my first marriage ended. People were cool with it and they all have remained friends. However, in the course of the meeting, it could happen that I will out myself or perhaps things may be such that it is the only logical conclusion; that I am LGBT and not an ally.

As I was coming to the point of volunteering to moderate, it occurred to me that it felt like something that I had to do. As difficult as it might feel, it seems necessary. Besides, in effect, it would also be lying in front of my fellow LGBT members and allies. However, and this is a MAJOR point: the "B" is open to discussion, but the "T" will remain a secret...

Please share whatever thoughts you have...

[Kathleen Ann Trees]

Good for you. Thanks for taking on a difficult task and I assume some risk. Our company has made a strong effort to promote diversity in the workplace to the point that we've modified benefits and have public policies in place. But my suggestion is to find the strongest ally among executives, even the CEO, to define a policy. Even if it starts out generic, and your group starts to fill in the blanks. With top down support, you cannot lose!

Good luck.
Kathleen Ann

[flatlander_48]

Thanks!!

Actually things are progressing on the corporate side. Our major supporters are the CFO, CTO and the VP-HR. The company has sent letters in support of ENDA, established domestic partner benefits, etc. Things have been happening in the last few years. Obviously there is a long ways to go, but there is progress. What I don't know is how well (or consistently) this filters down to other parts of the company.

In theory, we hold people to a confidentiality agreement during our own meetings and the other group does the same thing for their meetings. For the joint meeting, I plan on making the same pronouncements. I guess my sensitivity comes from being friends with a few people from the other group who don't know where things sit for me. But, I guess we'll know where they stand...

[Teresa Amina]

I think it's interesting that you're willing to be somewhat open about the B part (which probably isn't very obvious) yet being T tends to be noticed (if you're seen out and about dressed as the opposite birth gender). Just seems a little odd...

[flatlander_48]

I think it's interesting that you're willing to be somewhat open about the B part (which probably isn't very obvious) yet being T tends to be noticed (if you're seen out and about dressed as the opposite birth gender). Just seems a little odd...

I have only been out completely dressed once in 6 years. I would need a COMPLETE makeover to do that in broad daylight. The body and clothes are not a problem, but the face is a regular guy face and would need lots of help to be workable.

The other part is that I think people, in general, handle gay issues better than transgender issues. I think folks tend to have a lot of difficulty getting their heads around it. Note, I'm not transgender in the sense that I feel I'm in the wrong body. Where it sits for me is somewhere in the middle were my thought processes and feelings have a lot of male components as well as well as a lot of female components.

[DeeInGeorgia]

I work for a large multi-state company that is a part of a much larger multi-state corporation. It's EEO policy covers Sexual orientation but not gender presentation or gender identity. When I asked or local HR organization about this, they said that the EEO policy was written broad enough that gender identity / expression was included. They also have a Diversity organization that is now allowing / regulating Affinity Groups and the company has a non-harrassment policy in place.

My personality is of the type that if there is a problem that needs fixing, I will give my bodd the ammunition to fight the battle to fix the problem. So for me, providing situations where the company has an opportunity to show their true colors and see if they will stand behind their policies.

I am a CDer (light TG) and my local supervisor as well as a bunch of HR people as well as the past EEO Supervisor at work as well as 10 other people that are or were on the local "Diversity Council". I percieve myself as the assistant organizer of a forming LGBT PRIDE affinity group (in work for 8 months so far). All the paperwork was finally at a level of completion that the powers that be accepted the package and are now reviewing it. The founding members of this affinity group also know I am TG.

Anyway, Last month I sent a letter to the local HR group VP asking if the company would be open to having a tour group from Southern Comfort Conference visit the facility and have lunch with the company vice president/general manager for the site. I was told that only Corporate could make that decision. So I wrote the corporate person to get that permission. I am awaiting the results. I think that the local HR VP was not expecting me to send the request to corporate.

The requirements that were placed on my request by the HR organization was that Corporate has to participate in the Transgender Career Expo in order to consider allowing a tour group of TG's.

What is really fun is that I sent a letter to the Diversity Manager for the company pointing out at least 5 catagories in the Diversity Maturity Model that supporting SCC would substantally raise there DMM score.

Dee

[flatlander_48]

There are HR people who insist upon acting like a Barnacle on the Azz of Progress. They will smile and throw up road blocks as natural as tying their shoes. With those folks, you just have to persevere. I used to think that HR folks really were predisposed to help people. And while Many are, there are a few who are more interested in crossing "t's" and dotting "i's". That's the sad truth.

However, people are slowly coming to the conclusion that a Good Idea has no gender, no race and no sexual orientation. Unfortunately, everybody ain't there yet...

[flatlander_48]

We had the meeting today! All went well. We had 7 from our LGBT group and 15 or 16 from the other ERG. For us, the 7 was about half of the group and close to an even split for LGBT and non-LGBT.

In any event, I believe people learned some things that they didn't know beforehand. Plus, we all have a better understanding of what it's like for a non-LGBT person to align themselves with a gay group. While everyone does it for their own reasons, it is not an insignificant decision...