Well, I am still amazed how GLBT friendly it is here. I don't know why, but it is.

There is some good news about gays and lesbians in the workplace in Minnesota. It's getting better.

I did have bad experiences at Child Protection w/ one secretary. She wanted me to head to Cleveland, Ohio, to become str8. Why Ohio? Well, when I go, I could check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame while I'm being converted!!

What about you guys? How is your job treating you?

My job is pretty cool with me. I'm open there, and I've brought my boyfriend to work-related social events.

I couldn't imagine trying to work at a place where I constantly had to play the pronoun game when talking about who I'm with.

Josh

I live in New York. I house manage an Off-B'Way theatre. Need I say more?

Seriously, when I'm in the co-ed dressing room the hetero leading man of our current production has no problem stripping to his skivvies in front of me and my huzzie (the stage manager). In fact, I think he enjoys us checking him out. Don't all actors love attention?

Everywhere I've worked since I've been out has had no problem. One job where I was the only gay guy half the staff knew was a lot of fun - we were all Yankee fans, which, really, is more important than whom everyone sleeps with.

Since working here I have had six instances of homophobic behaviour. I'm not sure if it is because it's law enforcement or all the republicans or what... The fifth time it was the EEO coordinator who made the comment.

I try to educate people, but some of them are just lost causes.

I used to work in Vancouver WA. A prayer circle was held in the office during the Christmas/holiday party. I was asked to lead the prayer. I said I didn't know any. Bad choice.

I was always being asked if I had found a church yet.

The guy in the next cubicle used the phone to try to raise money for an Oliver North rally being held in Portland. He used to refer to "sodomites" all the time.

I was fired. On the way out, I was handed a Bible tract.

I live part of the year (my home is) in New Jersey, which in general is one of the more moderate, pro-gay states in the United States. It has state-mandated protections for homosexuals, and allows gays and lesbians to adopt children fairly easily. I live the other part of the year (sojourn, and work) in Illinois, in Chicago specifically. Chicago is pretty liberal as cities go, with protections for gays and lesbians, an out alderman, a mayor who values gay votes (like any others), and so on. Illinois is more conservative than New Jersey, however. My employer is extremely gay-friendly.

[ October 02, 2003, 06:29 PM: Message edited by: fantomas ]

I was petrified of coming out at work (hell, I was petrified of coming out at all, which is why I waited until I was 33 - oddly enough I'm 29 now ), but I should have realized it was no big deal. I work in health care, which is a predominantly female field (outside of physicians) and a huge percentage of the men are gay. At my first office Christmas party after coming out I ended up at the "gay table" with 6 different gay colleagues and 4 of their partners (2 of the guys were single). Although a few of those folks have left the company, we still have at least 7 openly gay employees (out of a total of 165) - right in the 5% range. Although we have a large number of very religious people at the office, and a lot of them belong to church's that are unaccepting of gay people, to say the least, it is not an issue - I don't lecture them about their religion and they don't lecture me about my sexuality.

Just the other day a colleague who has known me since I started here (6 1/2 years ago) remarked at how happy she was that I had come out - and this is one of those very religious types (albeit with a good friend who passed from AIDS a few years ago). She realized how it had improved my life and my outlook - how I was now happy a lot of the time instead of being miserable as I'd seemed before - it was a very touching moment.