Interior GLOBE
Meeting Notes

May 11, 2005

June Pride

The letter inviting Representative Lewis to be keynote speaker went out under Sharon Eller’s signature on April 27^th.  The letter does not specify a date in June.  Sylvia Jones, Office of Civil Rights, will work with Representative Lewis’s schedule to schedule a date for the event if he accepts the invitation to speak.  No response has been received yet.  Sylvia will follow up.  Jerry is working with Sylvia on the event.  Jerry will let Sylvia know that, if Representative Lewis cannot speak in June, GLOBE is amenable to having the event in July or later.

If Representative Lewis does not accept the invitation to speak, Sylvia will ask the next speaker on the list provided by GLOBE.  GLOBE’s second speaker choice was Mark Meinke of the Rainbow History Project, and GLOBE’s third speaker choice was the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) new president Joe Solomonese.

It was suggested that the group revisit the order of preference for the speakers.   The Rainbow History Project is a DC-based group that promotes the preservation of DC GLBT history, arts, and culture.  Meinke is a good speaker.  It was suggested that he may be more entertaining while providing a history lesson.  HRC is the largest national GLBT political organization.  Solomonese was the creator of Emily’s List.  After some discussion it was agreed that Solomonese, as president of HRC, may attract a larger audience and should be identified as GLOBE’s second speaker choice.  Meinke could be invited to speak at another event, possibly a GLOBE meeting or joint meeting with other GLOBE groups, at another time.

Mary noted Denver USGS June Pride events.  A Colorado state senator will speak on the 17^th at the USGS Pride Fest.

New Millennium Human Rights Award (Berry Award)

The group selected Sylvia Jones to be the 2005 recipient of the Berry Award.  Jerry will do a write-up of her accomplishments so that they can be read at the presentation of the award.  Ike will notify Sylvia and her supervisor Sharon Eller.  As discussed at the last meeting, the USGS will receive their award for 2004.  Ike and John Szemraj will draft the write-up for this award.

GLOBE Retreat Action Items

Meeting participants continued the discussion of amending GLOBE’s bylaws to include additional references to transgendered employees.  In response to Joe’s suggestions, Jay sent an earlier e-mail wondering whether one term could be found that included “sexual orientation and gender identity and expression.”  He was concerned about the need to streamline the language while being inclusive.  He suggested “sexual or gender orientation.”  Jerry suggested that we keep “GLBT” because it clearly includes the term “transgendered.”   Ike will seek Joe’s advice on the wording.  Joe initiated the suggestions because he thought that more inclusive language would provide encouragement and support for the DOI transgendered community. 

Ike passed out a revised priority list (sent out to the membership by previous e-mail) which included action items classified as “easy to accomplish,” “high priority,” and “to be accomplished later.”  The remaining unclassified action items were discussed.

• A general letter to the membership will go out that will canvass members for ideas.
• Ike will canvass the local membership for monthly meeting attendance.  A meeting will be held only if enough members can attend.
• GLOBE archives:  Maria will keep records as part of an official GLOBE archive.  If members have GLOBE records, they should be sent to her.
• Monitoring of bureaus:  Ike suggested that points-of-contact should be identified from each bureau to monitor policies, announcements, etc., to ensure adequate attention to GLBT issues and to note any problems that may arise.

GLOBE will take up the eight major items at monthly meetings following June Pride.

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Revised: 07/25/05
Robert_J_Veltkamp@nbc.gov