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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 5, 2002)
■mi ì ™? OREGON HEALTH SCIENCES UNIVERSITY su MEIER FRANK . a n d i « '. ' — |2s The Pulse of Pride " COMPANY ÍMA61ISHLD SN PORTLAND ]8 ' ! fo o d ^ d r u g bank not to discriminate based on sexual orientation Providence to encourage employee connec and recruited other businesses to join them. But tions. Spokeswoman Dianne McConkey points while the pledge has expanded to include gen out that not only are employees welcome to rep der identity, Freddie’s has yet to adopt the new resent the sexual minorities community on the language. health system’s diversity committees, hut a Despite this, Fred Meyer spokesman Rob group of gay men and lesbians also use company Boley says, “The key things are that we do have facilities to meet informally about pertinent sexual orientation in our [nondiscrimination] issues. policy, we do include the discussion in our diver D on’t fight a battle of the sexes. Kaiser and sity workshops and training, and we would not Safeway say they have a written nondiscrimi ever actively engage in any action that would nation policy regarding “gender identity” or undermine the dignity or worth of this employ “gender expression.” Intel confirms its written ee group.” policy is “in progress.” Providence, however, O f all the measures in this review, BRO pro notes only that its verbiage covers “the breadth gram coordinator Melissa Shepherd remarks: of discrimination.” “These are really easy things to do. It takes In Portland and Multnomah County, gender employers very little effort to identity is covered under the he up to speed on these same nondiscrimination provi things. It’s good company sions as sexual orientation. policy— and good competi Additionally, the state provides tive policy.” some trans protections under Antoinette Laferriere, the Oregon Civil Rights for Dis Portland Area Business abled Persons Act. The signifi Association president, adds cance, then, is the discrepancy that because many gay- between the legal obligations of owned businesses are small, companies within these jurisdic their active support of diver tions and their formal written sity and equality is not as policies. widely noticed in the general Finish the jo b. Overall, public. But by working Kaiser and Intel lead the survey, together with large corpora joining the ranks of American tions, the sexual minorities Airlines, Apple Computer and community can achieve a Xerox in fully meeting these significant presence in the basic criteria. workplace. “We at Kaiser Permanente “It is really important believe strongly in creating an that these employers show inclusive workplace free of dis leadership,” Laferriere says of crimination,” says Tricia Peters, companies in this survey. vice president of human “T he publicity associated resources. “This survey recog prioritizing issues with large employers priori nizes the hard work of many o f sexual orientation, tizing issues of sexual orien people here to create not just' tation, gender identity and fair employment practices hut gender identity and workplace fairness is critical also a culture that celebrates the workplace fairness to fairness and integration diversity among our staff and becoming the norm in soci health plan members.” is critical to fairness and ety in general.” JH Some in this poll, however, still have work to do. UPS and integration becoming To review the F air W orkplace Fred Meyer, for example, signifi the norm in society PROJECT, including participating cantly trail their colleagues, employers from throughout O re- only slightly ahead of other low- in general" gem, go to w w w .hasknghts.org. scoring national brands, such as — Antoinette Laferriere (Som e companies have signed Wal-Mart, Federal Express and only the ongmal pledge agamst ExxonMobil. discrimination hosed on sexual orientation; others have This wasn’t always the case for Freddie’s, at signed the current pledge agamst dLscrmunatum hosed least. Seven years ago, the then-local chain on both sexual onentatum and gender identity.) stepped forward with Portland General Electric and Northwest Natural to found BR O ’s Fair TIMOTHY KRAUSE is a Portland w ater. Workplace Project. This corporate trio pledged Kaiser Permanente employees show their pride last summer ments and situations of sexual minorities. Its n 1998, a small group of sexual minori representatives address issues of access, commu ty staff at Kaiser Permanentes N orth nication, special health concerns and differing west division banded together to seek family structures. health care benefits for domestic part Like KP Northwest Pride, many employee ners. Four years later, registered nurse groups find they must tune in to their employers Sue Caulfield and physician Richard Bills corporate mentality to be most effective. Bills rec now jointly chair KP Northwest Pride, an ommends examining a company’s goals and prior active and growing employee group. ities, looking for how the needs Its mission has grown, of sexual minority employees too. Today, the group repre “\Ve are recognized can contribute to good busi sents a variety of sexual as an agent ness. “What do we need that is minority concerns— not only congruent with where they of employees hut also health for positive change want to go.7” he suggests asking. plan members. For example, The answer from Kaiser was beginning in 2003, Kaiser’s within the organization" clear. benefits contract specifically — Rkhard Bills “We are recognized as an will cover trans care. The agent for positive change with group also is working to in the organization,” Bills states. “By the focus develop a referral process by which members we’ve had, we’ve been able to make Kaiser Perma can request queer or queer-friendly clinicians. nente see that these changes improve their cus T he ongoing objective, Bills says, is to tomer satisfaction.” improve communication in order to avoid closing doors. Through diversity training pre For more information call Rkhard Bills at sentations, for instance, the group helps 503-350-2435. Kaiser staff be sensitive to unique require- I Physician Richard Bills is the co-chairman of KP Northwest Pride, an active and growing employee group
