GLOBE volunteer effort at Food and Friends 

January's volunteer night is Wednesday evening, January 10.  Jerry will be the only Interior GLOBE representative at this month’s effort.  Hopefully, we can do better next month!

Christopher Street Financial Services

Christopher Street is still offering free consultations to Interior GLOBE members for financial and estate planning.  Packages can be mailed to the field upon request.

Holiday Party

Interior GLOBE extends deep appreciation to Jim and Greg for hosting this year's holiday party at their beautiful home, Friday evening, December 15.  During the party, Interior GLOBE presented the first annual New Millennium Human Rights Award (John Berry Award) to outgoing Assistant Secretary for Policy, Management, and Budget, John Berry.  The award is intended to recognize outstanding contributions to the improvement of the quality of work life for gays and lesbians in the Department of the Interior.  John gratefully accepted the award, but congratulated Interior GLOBE for developing and advocating the initiatives achieved during his tenure.  He encouraged the members to continue to push for continued improvement under the new Administration.  Maria drafted a press release about the presentation of the award and sent a copy to The Washington Blade.  Tammy photographed the presentation ceremony.  A copy of the press release and the pictures will be forwarded to People, Land, and Water.

Amendments to the Interior Strategic Plan for Workforce Diversity

Maria reported on her meeting with Deputy Assistant Secretary for Workforce Diversity, Minnijean Brown-Trickey, and Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity, Melodee Stith to discuss Interior GLOBE’s proposed amendments to the Interior Strategic Plan for Workforce Diversity.  Minnijean and Melodee reported that the Solicitor’s Office did not approve the detailed amendments initially submitted by GLOBE in September 2000, because General Law is not supportive of the collection of information about employee sexual orientation.  Minnijean and Melodee recommended instead that a blanket statement be added to the plan to clarify that "diversity" includes sexual orientation.

Although Interior GLOBE is not satisfied with this recommendation, consensus at the meeting was to go forward with it as the best that could be done under the circumstances.  Sam Bowser, Deputy Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity, will draft a statement and present it to the Secretary for approval.  However, even this action is considered questionable, given the lateness of the date in the old Administration.  During the discussion, a recommendation was made to approach the unions to see if they will include a non-discrimination statement in their by-laws to cover sexual orientation.  Jerry and Bob will take the lead on investigating this option.

Election Report

The Elections Committee (Ike, Brian, Jerry) presented the results of the election of officers for calendar year 2001.  Ballots were received from 26 members, for a return rate of approximately 30%.  The results were unanimously in favor of retaining the current suite of officers, including many complimentary statements on the past performance of these individuals.  Therefore, the officers for 2001 are:

President - Maria Wiseman

Vice-President - Bob Veltkamp

Secretary - Jim Gasser

Treasurer - Daphne Berwald

FedGLOBE Representative - Jay Douglas

The Elections Committee reported that the electronic balloting process worked exceptionally well (no chad problems, although we did have a recount) and recommended that the process be repeated for future elections.

Ethics and Fund Raising

Bob provided information he had gathered about raising funds at work.  Although individuals cannot solicit funds from other employees on the job for charitable purposes, Departmentally recognized employee organizations are allowed to raise funds.  However, e-mail solicitations are probably not acceptable.  Bob is arranging for an individual from the ethics office to discuss this and other ethics issues with GLOBE, perhaps at the March meeting.

FedGLOBE Meeting

Maria and Jay reported on the FedGLOBE meeting they will be attending on January 10 regarding concerns about the new Administration.  FedGLOBE is developing an action plan to establish a relationship with the new Administration.  As part of this development, they are asking the following questions to each agency's GLOBE:

Have there been any repercussions already?

What are the concerns about the new Administration?

What pre-existing conditions should FedGLOBE know about?

A point of discussion for Interior GLOBE revolved around how to respond to a question from FedGLOBE as to whether Interior GLOBE wished to declare a position on selected nominees.  The consensus was that it was not appropriate to take positions on the new appointees.

Coalitions with Other Organizations Involved with Diversity Issues

A recommendation was discussed about pursuing coalitions with other organizations involved with diversity issues.  The consensus was to work collaboratively where possible.  Maria and Ike volunteered to make initial contacts with other organizations.

Undercover Park Police Operations

Maria and Jim discussed with the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Workforce Diversity, Minnijean Brown-Trickey, and the Director of the Office for Equal Opportunity, Melodee Stith, the issue of the Park Police’s use of undercover Park police to arrest individuals for soliciting sex in gay cruising areas in Capitol parks.  Outside GLBT organizations have recommended to the Park Police that the stationing of uniformed officers in the parks would be a deterrent, but the Park Police contends that it cannot afford the expense.  The Park Police countered by asking the gay community to police the parks themselves.  The community’s issue with this suggestion is that most offenders are not active in the community and therefore have no incentive to comply.  Minnijean and Melodee suggested that GLOBE might wish to contact the Office of the Inspector General on the basis that the action is an inappropriate use of funds.  GLOBE needs to be careful not to appear to be promoting sex in public places.  It was decided to wait for the new Administration to be in place before pursuing the issue further.  However, discussions with the Gay and Lesbian Advocacy Alliance (GLAA), one of the organizations active in this matter, might be beneficial in the interim, perhaps even inviting a representative to a GLOBE meeting.

June Pride Special Emphasis Program

Andy reported that the Office of Surface Mining (OSM) has the lead this year for the June Pride special emphasis program.  He is looking for ideas.  Please contact him with any suggestions.

Team Approach to Support AIDS Events

Jerry recommended that GLOBE adopt a team approach for events like the AIDS Ride or the AIDS Walk.  Discussion was supportive.