October 9, 2002
Fall Newsletter
Maria
outlined the articles that would be used in the Fall Newsletter.
They are: 1) June GLOBE
Pride Event, 2) President’s Message
from Jerry Bock, 3) Melodee’s statement
about her receiving the Berry Award, 4) Andy
DeVito’s Distinguished Service Award, 5) an
Article on the Gay and Lesbian Cultural Sites, 6) USGS Diversity Committees.
The
Newsletter will be 100% web accessible and a few copies will be printed for
distribution to Assistant Secretaries and the Immediate Office of the Secretary.
FEDGLOBE’s Best Practices
Maria
provided copies of the web pages from FEDGLOBE on best practices for agencies
which support gay and lesbian employees. Interior
was mentioned frequently as using the best practices.
This is an item of which both management and employees should be proud.
http://www.fedglobe.org
The button on the left marked NCOD Register will take you to the site to
place your name on a list of openly gay and lesbian employees in Federal
agencies.
World AIDS Day Commemoration
Maria
asked if Interior GLOBE was going to ask the Department to provide a
commemoration for World AIDS Day celebrated annually on December 1st.
Jerry volunteered to contact Mark Oliver of the Department’s Education
Partnership Office to see if there is support for this proposal. During the years 1994-2000, commemorations were held in the C
Street Lobby with wreath laying and an honor guard.
Two years ago there was a commemoration with all employee organizations
participating in the commemoration. As AIDS impacts all ethnic and sexual minorities, the members
agreed it should involve all recognized employee organizations.
Treasurer’s Report
John
stated that the Interior GLOBE had $83.83 on hand and, after reimbursing Maria
for the frame purchased for the Berry Award citation, the organization has
$58.83 on hand. Jerry asked those
members in attendance if they felt a need for fund raising and the discussion
centered around the need for funding of any purchases in the next few months.
It was felt that there would be no need for additional purchases
necessitating fund raising until June.
Possible Meeting with DAS Mike Trujillo
Deputy Assistant Secretary Mike Trujillo, during his presentation at the June GLOBE Pride celebration, stated that Interior GLOBE had an open invitation to meet with him to discuss gay and lesbian employee issues. Ike, who was the Interior GLOBE’s representative on the Departmental Diversity Council, supported meeting with Mr. Trujillo.
There was a members’ discussion of the pro’s and con’s of setting up such a meeting and the need to provide a positive agenda. Such items as the Administration’s support of recognized employee organizations, the proposed SES Diversity Council taking over from the Interior employee Diversity Council, the FEDGLOBE web pages’ Best Practices, Domestic Partners benefits were all discussed as possible items for an agenda.
Maria will ask Melodee about the domestic partners benefits for support of dual career moves and Jerry agreed to work on an agenda to send to Trujillo in advance. There was a discussion of the number of members to bring to the meeting and it was felt that a poll of the members available at the time of the meeting would be best.
Employee Discrimination Complaint
Jerry
shared with the members information on another National Park Service (NPS)
employee complaint of discriminatory environment in the work place.
Jim will contact Dianne Spriggs, NPS Equal Employment Opportunity chief,
to discuss the situation. Jerry will forward the information to Richard Nolan for his
review.
Stubblefield Letter
Jim’s partner Gregg had shared the USDA GLOBE minutes which contained a letter from a USDA employee to the Secretary of Agriculture, the U.S. Attorney General and several other high ranking appointees of the Administration. The letter, using the employee’s title and workplace location information, stated that she felt it was morally wrong for the Administration to support Gay and Lesbian Pride Commemorations with Federal dollars. Jim stated that the USDA GLOBE leadership was going to respond to the woman as an employee organization and further stated that the USDA GLOBE members were not encouraged to respond to their fellow employee.
There
was a discussion of this letter and its logic and Maria stated that she had
covered the letter’s points and made notes refuting the ill-logic of the
woman’s statements. The members
agreed that no response from Interior GLOBE was necessary as this was a USDA
employee.
The next meeting will be held in the John Muir Room (formerly Small Buffet Room) on November 13, 2002, at 12:15 PM.
Revised: 11/05/02
Robert_J_Veltkamp@nbc.gov