People, Land and Water Article

It was noted that the People Land and Water for April, 2000 had an article on all the new Landmarks approved by the National Park System Advisory Board and signed by the Secretary.  Stonewall received the same amount of print about the site as other nominated landmarks.   A picture of the Stonewall Inn was included in the article.

Bulletin Board

Maria, with Departmental consent, has posted items about Interior GLOBE and non-discrimination policies, as well as the newsletter on the employee organization bulletin board near the gym on the B-level of the Main Interior Building. So far no one has removed them.

Federal Enforcement Officer Fitness Standards

There was a discussion of the Departmental review of these standards and how they could be made more gay, lesbian, and bisexual friendly.  John Berry informed Maria that some work is being done at the Departmental level to resolve this issue.  More information will be available later.

National Park Service (NPS) Northeast Regional Office (NERO) Non-Discriminatory Memo

John Berry informed Maria that the NPS NERO policy of denying security clearances to gay and lesbian employees would be officially reversed.

National Park Service & Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Policy Regarding Relocation Benefits for Domestic Partners

John Berry informed Maria that BLM Director Tom Fry has agreed to extend relocation benefits to domestic partners as does the Fish and Wildlife Service.  NPS Director Bob Stanton will raise the policy with his staff and consider doing the same for NPS employees.

National Park Service Park Pass

The new NPS Pass will be available to same sex partners.  The Pass costs $50 and is good for one year for entrances to parks that collect fees.  It was decided by NPS, in consultation with the National Park Foundation, to permit people who are or consider themselves to be spouses, with different last names, to both be listed on the face of the card so either partner can use the card without the other being present.   This was the same for heterosexual or homosexual partners.  Two names can be imprinted on the face of the card and both signatures must be written on the signature line on the back of the card for them to be valid.

Interior GLOBE Pride Ceremony

Maria asked if anyone in Interior GLOBE could advise the Office of the Secretary Equal Employment Opportunity Office on preparing for the Departmental Pride Ceremony.  If you are interested please contact Maria on 202-208-7227 or e-mail her.  There was a discussion of the need for a backup speaker in case Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) is unable to participate.  Don Michaels, Publisher of the Washington Blade, was nominated.   If any member has other suggestions contact Maria.

Meeting with Richard Nolan

The DOI EEO Office's sexual orientation point person is Richard Nolan, a Bureau of Land Management employee in Phoenix.  Richard is paid by BLM but can work half time on sexual orientation issues for the Department’s EEO Office. The Executive Committee met with Richard when he was in town meeting with Departmental EEO personnel.   Richard has a list of approximately 30 action items, which he will address. There was some discussion of how best to make use of his office by Interior GLOBE members.   Hostile work environments, such as the one pointed out by a new National Park Service employee in the National Capital Region (NCR) were one of the topics. Jay will e-mail Melodee on this issue.  Michael Sadie offered to speak to the NPS-NCR employee about his similar experiences after moving here from the West Coast.  Jim will also contact the employee.  Larry discussed the DOI University sponsored Fred Pryor seminar on Customer Service that he recently attended.  The instructor, Tim Smith, from Fred Pryor Seminars, used the word ’faggot’ in four jokes that Larry found very offensive.  Maria will e-mail Melodee on this issue.

Interior GLOBE Assessment of DOI Policies

Andy DeVito has prepared an excellent draft assessing the Diversity Plan.  Maria will draft additional comments on Departmental policies as they impact gay, lesbian and bisexual employees.  Maria asked for reviewers to nominate themselves and Michael, Jay and Jim volunteered.  Federal GLOBE Board Member Rob Sadler will address the Interior Departmental Diversity Council on an outside assessment during the Council’s June session on this topic.  He requested a meeting with Interior GLOBE's executive council between May 30 and June 8. The Executive Council was asked to check their calendars and get back to Maria with available dates.

AIDS RIDE Information

Jay discussed the need to have all riders or supporters let him know if they had housing or transportation needs in Raleigh, where the ride begins.  A USGS employee had offered to support DC Riders in their preparation for the Ride.

E-Mail List

Jay asked if Bob Veltkamp could e-mail his list of Internet addresses to Jay as he needed to check his list again as the BLM e-mail system is adding a BLM tag to the names on this list he has.  We now have about 80 members on the mailing list.

EEOC Audit of the BLM

Jay mentioned that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is auditing BLM on how the Bureau is implementing diversity in the workplace.  Warren Johnson, BLM's Director of Personnel, sent a memo out about the audit but did not include age, sexual orientation, or disability in the definition of diversity.

Newsletter

Larry Sampson and Michael Sadie stated that they had signed up to receive the newsletter via blue (or brown) envelope and they had not received it yet – two weeks after it was sent out.  If any other Interior GLOBE member who had signed up to receive the newsletter has not yet received their copy, please e-mail Daphne Berwald to ask for another copy.  During the discussion Maria stated, " $27 from GLOBE funds was spent for copying and postage for the newsletter."

By-Laws

Michael Sadie, Treasurer, reviewed all the changes that were made in the two sets of by-laws.  There were discussions about several points in the draft final by-laws and all agreed to the changes that were discussed. Maria summed up the changes to the by-laws as four major changes:

Michael was commended by Maria and all present for his important work on the by-laws. There was a vote and the by-laws were passed unanimously.  Michael will finalize and send to Maria who will create a cover memo for the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Diversity in the Workplace, Minnijean Brown-Trickey, to sign the by-laws.