Where is Your Anger?

Harvey Fierstein shared a story on PBS's "In the Life" about a homeless man who, after Harvey Milk was assassinated and the streets of the Castro filled with mourners holding candles, screamed out "Where's your anger?"

Our anger can be self-destructive or transformed into constructive action.

Harvey Fierstein reminds us that it is better to find our anger now [and do something with it] than to wake up the morning after the next election and ask "Where are my rights?"

As 12 year-old AIDS victim Nkosi Johnson said:

Do all you can

With what you have

In the time you have

In the place you are.

Dehumanization is a Step Before Genocide

The effort to eliminate particular groups of human beings is a constant in human history. Recent examples such as Nazi Germany, Rwanda and the Sudan remind us that modern times have not slowed down human efforts to eliminate groups they despise. Having been thinking so deeply about GLBT discrimination in the workplace, a PBS series on Auschwitz presented an academic who stated that a step before genocide is always the dehumanization of human beings. Be alerted when you find yourself in a work environment whose management attempts to deprive you of your unique qualities either via a lack of recognition of you as a full human being or by ignoring your fullness--the detail of your life that makes it meaningful. Does your boss know the names of your colleague's spouses and children, the town they live in, where they take their vacations? Does s/he ignore the same information about you, your partner, your cat? It takes courage you may not always be able to muster but, on top of doing your work as well or better than others to prevent management from firing you for your performance, you must refuse not to be your full and unique self. One by one, each of us can impact the workplace culture we inhabit. Insisting on being ourselves is rarely easy but it is essential so that perhaps one day, others like us won't have to face the hardships we struggle to overcome.

Help Others: Please Share Your Personal Experiences

I am beginning this blog to ask others if they have experienced subtle and not so subtle discrimination in the workplace. Do you remember when you were a kid in grade school and weren’t chosen for teams during P.E. class? Do you remember how humiliating it was to be the last one standing, on full display with a neon sign on your forehead which might have glowed: I’m Worthless.

Now, fast-forward a bit to your job experiences over the years. Have you been made to feel not valued at work? If so, I’m inviting you to set aside a few minutes and, when you are ready, return to this blog and help others by describing a few of the subtle and various ways that you feel society bleeds into the corporation and, while we are at work, sends us the same messages we always got about being different growing up: “We don't want you on our team.”

It is my hope to leverage these painful and unforgettable personal experiences by turning them into concrete methods corporations can adopt to transform their working cultures into workplaces where everyone feels accepted, valued, supported, mentored and amply rewarded.

Tired of Being Left Out

I'm an openly gay white male who has had too many experiences of being left out:

• Not chosen for teams during P.E. class in grade-school.
• Not chosen for relationships since guys didn't want 'fems.'
• Ignored and not mentored and eventually fired from jobs.
• Ignored and not developed and left unsupported when I most needed support but not fired--just forced to resign.

As I got older and wiser and visited the south and lived in Harlem, NY and started to think deeply about what it might feel like to be discriminated against, I realized that I myself had been discriminated against on many occasions but did not realize it while it was happening. Recently a group came to speak at my company about their mission: helping gay, lesbian and transgender high-school students feel supported and welcome at their schools. Afterwards, I sent in a question to the sponsoring group asking how cruel societal behavior towards gays, lesbians and transgender people map to corporate behavior towards these same people. I never got a response but I have continued to think about how many of us are subtly left out of the grooming, promotion and reward experiences that straight people take for granted.

I am beginning this blog to ask others if they feel the same way and, if so, to describe the subtle and various ways that society bleeds into the corporation and sends us the same messages we always got about being different growing up: we don't want you on our team.

Does anyone remember being the last one standing when teams were chosen? Are you the last one standing when others are considered for promotion or that new job that just opened up?

By identifying how individuals within corporations subtly and not so subtly leave us out we may be able to call the behavior to the attention of the corporation and educate the corporate body about how to stop it, or else.

I look forward to hearing about your experiences.

--Left Out