October 24, 2001
Secretary Signs Non-Discriminatory Statement
Maria Wiseman announced that on August 24, 2001, Interior Secretary Gale Norton signed the policy statement barring discrimination against all title 7 categories as well as sexual orientation. Hopefully, all employees have received this via e-mail or in hard copy. If not, contact your agency's Equal Employment Opportunity Office for a copy. Jim Gasser stated that the Director of the National Park Service has signed a similar statement after Melodee Stith of the Department’s Office for Equal Opportunity reviewed it. Maria asked if any other members had seen their agency heads’ statement. Please let her know as soon as one has been signed.
Federal GLOBE Sixth Annual Training Congress
Maria stated that on November 8, 2001, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the Federal GLOBE will hold their annual training event. Richard Nolan and Ike Kelley will be participating in this training. Also participating will be the U.S. Geological Survey Diversity Committee members. This is believed to be the first time that an agency has shown a commitment to their gay and lesbian employees by sending employees to this annual training.
Fall Newsletter
Maria announced that the last article had been received and the fall newsletter would be sent out soon. Tami Heilemann will be editing and creating the newsletter as she has in the past.
USGS Diversity Committee
Via telephone, Ike Kelley reported on his experiences with the new USGS diversity committee.
The USGS conducted an orientation/training seminar in San Antonio, Texas, the week of September 10 for its newly established Special Emphasis Program. Although the schedule for the seminar was severely impacted by the tragic events of September 11, the program was highly effective in a number of areas. Because of the travel restrictions, the attendees were forced to remain in San Antonio and were afforded an opportunity to bond more closely than might have occurred otherwise. Also, because trainers were unable to reach San Antonio, the program was modified to provide the attendees more opportunity to focus on priorities and work plans for their special emphasis areas than would have been possible originally.
The Gay and Lesbian Employment Special Emphasis Program team members have begun developing outreach methods to attract GLBT employees to the program to assist with developing program activities, establishing priorities for the program, coordinating information gathering within the community, and planning outreach to the employee body as a whole. The team also plans to focus on the development of a website to help communicate their message. They also are planning mechanisms for communicating employment opportunities to external GLBT support groups, especially student groups at universities and colleges. The GLBT Special Emphasis Program team plans to convene a monthly teleconference the day after the GLOBE meeting to take advantage of the latest information available through that arena.
AIDS Walk
Maria asked if any member present had participated in the recently completed AIDS walk but no one had. Bob Veltkamp will continue to check Interior GLOBE’s post office box for Walk donations until January 2002, in case any members still wish to send in contributions. The website link is:
http://home.cox.rr.com/interiorglobe/aidswalk-2001.html
Possible New Interior GLOBE Chapter at Grand Canyon
Maria spoke of a call she had recently received from a possible new member at the Grand Canyon National Park. He was inquiring about the possibility of starting a GLOBE chapter at the park. Maria sent him the information about how to begin, which is located in the Interior GLOBE by-laws. Jim Gasser of the NPS asked if he could make contact with the NPS employee to tell them about NPS gay and lesbian issues; Maria would ask and let Jim know.
Upcoming GLOBE Elections
Maria announced that due to the December birth of her and Sandy’s daughter, she would not seek re-election to the post of President of Interior GLOBE. She asked if anyone present was interested in running for positions on the Interior GLOBE Executive Committee, and a few members stated they would be interested. It appears that there may be several additional open positions because Jim Gasser and Bob Veltkamp were not sure that they would run again for their offices of Secretary and Vice President, respectively, due to their travel schedules.
Maria asked that anyone interested in participating in a leadership role with Interior GLOBE please consider it and contact her or any other officer if they have questions. Contact information is located on the Interior GLOBE website.
At the next monthly GLOBE meeting the elections committee will be formed as mandated by the by-laws.
2002 Agenda
Maria asked for ideas about subjects which could be discussed in meetings with the Secretary, Assistant Secretary Policy Management and Budget, and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Workforce Diversity. David Quick suggested that we need to have a defined agenda before even asking for a meeting with any of the Administration’s people. Some of the topics suggested were:
Continuation of the annual June Pride
program
Expanding the Diversity Strategic Plan to
include GLBT employees
Problems experienced in the field that
Richard Nolan has noted
Lack of sexual orientation on vacancy announcements as noted by Nolan
Maria suggested that members look to the Interior GLOBE Report presented to the Interior Diversity Council for other ideas. The meetings will likely be scheduled for some time after the new year and GLOBE elections.
Revised: 11/30/01
Robert_J_Veltkamp@nbc.gov