February 14, 2001
Happy Hour
Happy Hour on the fourth Friday of the month continues to be a successful way to bring new members to Interior GLOBE as well as enjoy our colleagues who are members of long standing. The next Happy Hour will be again, as always, at Gabriel's at the Radisson Barcelo Hotel, 2121 P Street NW, Washington, DC, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Everyone is invited!!! No need to RSVP.
Food and Friends and Interior GLOBE
Members and friends continue to work from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. preparing the evening meals for Food and Friends. Maria requested that even if members cannot make every month's work party (scheduled for the evenings of our monthly meetings, the second Wednesday of each month), that coming any time is valuable to the effort. Even though the time commitment appears to be long, Maria said that the real amount of time there is much shorter and goes quickly. Interior GLOBE members are asked to consider this as a major project for the organization. If you can help out, please let Maria or Jay know for which month you are available on the evening of the second Wednesday.
Web Page Update
Bob Veltkamp continues to be praised for his terrific job as the Interior GLOBE Web Master. Bob recently added articles about the John Berry Award and the criteria for awarding it. Members and friends are encouraged to check the web site frequently for updates and to make suggestions for improvement. Jay Douglas spoke to the benefit of using the site as a way to get information to new or potential members.
David Montoya
Members expressed their sympathy to the family of David Montoya, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Diversity in the Workplace, for the Department of the Interior. David died February 5, 2001, of a heart attack. Jim Gasser, as Secretary, was requested to write a letter for Maria expressing Interior GLOBE's sympathy to his family. David was a true friend and supporter of Interior GLOBE.
Free State Justice Rally
Maria announced that the Maryland Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual organization known as the Free State Justice Association would be holding a rally supporting Governor Glendening's efforts to pass an anti-discrimination bill in the Maryland State Legislature this term. It will be held on Monday 19 February at 7:00 p.m. at the Capitol Building in Annapolis. All Interior GLOBE members are invited and encouraged to participate.
Frank Kameny Award
FED GLOBE will honor former Interior Assistant Secretary - Policy Management and Budget, John Berry with the Kameny Award on April 25, 2001, at a ceremony to take place at an undesignated hearing room on Capitol Hill. More information will be sent to Washington metropolitan area members who are encouraged to attend the event.
Report from Fed GLOBE
There have been two meetings of all agency GLOBEs with the FED GLOBE organization during the past two months. The first, held in January, dealt primarily with GLOBE members concerns about the Bush Administration's potential to revise the Executive Orders baring discrimination against gay and lesbian employees of the Federal Government and lifting the order to bar gay and lesbian employees from hold security clearances. The second meeting dealt with a number of topics on which Jay Douglas briefed the members. All members are encouraged to visit the FED GLOBE website to see the "best practices" section at:
http://www.fedglobe.org/issues/eo13087/FG32STEP.htm
The Interior Department is often cited as the department representing best practices in gay and lesbian employee policies.
Update on Department's Strategic Plan for Diversity
Prior to the end of the Clinton Administration, Interior GLOBE had requested inclusion of "sexual orientation" as a category in the Interior Department's Strategic Plan for Diversity. Unfortunately, the Secretary was unable to sign the new amendment prior to his departure. The request for the amendment has been placed on hold until a new Assistant Secretary - Policy Management and Budget is named by the President. Jim Gasser related information that Melodee Stith had met last week with then acting Chief of Staff Tom Wiemer. After the meeting Melodee characterized the session as "fine, no problems."
Coalition Building
Maria discussed the value of having all recognized employee organizations begin to work with each other in a coordinated fashion for the future benefit of all their members and employees of the Department and its offices and bureaus. She suggested that a letter from her to the each of the other organizations' Presidents, asking to discuss common issues, might be a positive step in organizing that idea.
June Pride Planning
The Office of Surface Mining has been selected as the lead bureau for June Pride celebration. Andy DeVito of OSM has agreed to be the Interior GLOBE liaison to work with Diane Wood on this year's celebration. Andy suggested, and the membership overwhelming agreed, that inviting the Secretary to be the keynote speaker would be a positive idea. This letter of invitation will be sent by OSM. There is a small budget for entertainment and other items for the event. All members are encouraged to send ideas for the June celebration to Andy or Maria. The more ideas the better. The suggested date will be June 13, or whenever the Secretary can join us.
Spring Newsletter
Maria spoke about a number of articles that were being prepared for the spring edition of the Newsletter. She is doing an article on the John Berry award. Michael Sadie is writing an article on Small and Disadvantaged Business program and Gay and Lesbian business. Jerry is writing a new story about the Food and Friends Project and Interior GLOBE's involvement. Jay will provide an article on his work with FED GLOBE. More articles are needed. Members are encouraged to send any articles that they would like to see included to Maria before the end of February. Members outside of Washington are encouraged to participate in this, too.
Stonewall Plaque
The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation has indicated that they have the plaque presented by John Berry which commemorates the site of the Stonewall Riots of 1969. Stephen Morris has contacted them and will work with them on locating it on the building if the owner agrees to that, or in another appropriate place. Stephen will follow up on contacting the Society to further this project.
FEDGLOBE Meeting Notes from Ike
Diversity Council Meeting Notes from Ike
With respect the DOI Diversity Council meeting last month, there is very little to report. The premise of last month's meeting was to prepare the Council for working with the new Administration. Unfortunately, senior career officials meeting with the Council had little or no advice to offer the Council in preparing for the new Administration. At that time (January 23-25), the Secretary was still not confirmed. All offices appeared to be keeping a low profile until the dust settled. Therefore, the Council developed a fact sheet about itself to present to the incoming Administration and laid plans for work for the coming year. Unless directed otherwise, the Council intends to spend the majority of CY 2001 developing best practices on diversity to recommend for implementation Department-wide. Fortunately, FedGLOBE handed out a list of such last Wednesday, so I will forward those to my colleagues on the Council for consideration at our next meeting. If anyone has suggestions for additional locations to search for best practices related to sexual orientation, please share with me.
Revised: 02/19/01
Robert_J_Veltkamp@nbc.gov