SWE - Spring 2008 - (Page 36) “Now, the issues are ‘out there’ and more people are talking about them. The priority is to educate people.” ful behavior if expectations are set at the top,” she said. “Management has to be very committed.” Dr. Echeverria believes many people would be more understanding toward LGBT issues if they spoke with their LGBT colleagues one-on-one and learned about how unfairly LGBT people are treated. “I think that’s very powerful,” she said. She is encouraged by the response she has seen from managers who “It can only move forward” Leaders in the movement to ensure received Safe Space that employers respect lesbian, gay, training and who wantbisexual, and transgender employees ed to continue having applaud the Society of Women small group discussions Engineers for holding panel discussions about the issues it raised. at SWE’s annual conferences to address She believes it’s also the issue. important for heterosexSWE’s latest conference, held Oct. ual allies of LGBT 25-27, 2007, openly acknowledged the employees to speak out. issue by titling the panel discussion “It is important for peo“LGBTs and Allies in the Workplace.” ple like me, who do not Louise Young, Ph.D., a senior softhave to carry the burden ware engineer at Raytheon and a longof being treated differtime LGBT activist, said SWE and other ently, to step up and professional organizations “have been help [ensure a fair workvery good in the past five to 10 years to place],” she said. involve diversity in their programs.” Tim Wilson, Sc.D., a Christine McLean, a regular attendee member of the board of at SWE conferences, a former historian directors of the National for her campus SWE section, and proOrganization of Gay and ject manager of Turpin & Rattan Lesbian Scientific and Engineering Inc. of La Mesa, Calif., said Technical Professionals she is glad to see SWE taking a leader(www.NOGLSTP.org), ship role in recognizing the need for said noticeable differLGBT awareness in the workplace. “It ences remain among can only move forward from there,” she companies that have said. SWE’s diversity principles include gay-friendly policies and the commitment to support women in a those that do not. “We way that acknowledges and respects difdon’t have the kind of ferences in family status, sexual orientalegal status at the federal tion, age, and physical abilities. level and in most states that women and racial or ethnic minorities might have,” and so company recognition of LGBT employees varies widely, said Dr. Wilson, a professor of computer and software engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla. NOGLSTP works to help LGBT people build networks, whether inside or outside of their work environments. The group partners with, among others, MentorNET, which sets up one-on-one e-mail mentorships. Carol Muller, Ph.D., founder and CEO of MentorNET (www.MentorNET.net), based in San Jose, Calif., said the nonprofit organization is designed to link undergraduate and graduate students and scholars in science and engineering — principally women and Christine McLean, project others underrepresented in the field — with manager, Turpin & Rattan mentors throughout the world. MentorNET Engineering Inc. counts 21,000 people in its online community, including those who take part in an electronic discussion group, and 4,000 to 6,000 involved as mentors or protégés. Each mentor-protégé relationship lasts for eight months. MentorNET includes in its algorithm for matching protégés with mentors a person’s interest in sexual orientation, among other issues. “It’s an opportunity for people not to be stereotyped and to begin to build networks where no one is making a judgment on issues irrelevant to education or employment,” said Dr. Muller. MentorNET has found mentors in corporations; government laboratories; professional associations, including SWE; and more than 100 higher-education institutions. Networking also is important person-to-person. Nondiscrimination Policies Provide Assurance Ssu-Wei Loh, a project/construction engineer with DuPont Singapore, has benefited from being an active member of BGLAD, which has helped her find a social network. “I don’t announce that I am gay, but I’m fairly open discussing my girlfriend,” Loh said. “I haven’t had any issues with that.” But she has seen the mixed reactions that are inevitable when people are open about their sexuality. Loh, 36, came out when she was a junior at the University of Nevada, Reno, and she said she suffered some backlash among her friends. “There are people who don’t accept it and who don’t condone it,” she said. “Others are supportive.” Though Loh has worked in Singapore only two-and-a-half months and has yet to gauge the climate for gay people there, she is heartened that DuPont’s nondiscrimination policies cover employees throughout the world. “Plant managers frequently reiterate DuPont’s four core valSsu-Wei Loh ues, which include a respectful workplace, to remind people that these values cannot be compromised at any time,” she said. “If managers are supportive and well-educated, the respect will flow down to the employees,” Loh said. In many cases, employees simply need to be better educated about being sensitive to LGBT co-workers. Loh credits the BGLAD network at DuPont with helping managers deal with sensitive work issues. On one recent teleconference, five plant managers discussed issues that had arisen at their workplaces and wanted to learn how they could better offer support, she said. “For many managers, it’s just wanting to 36 SWE SPRING 2008 http://www.NOGLSTP.org http://www.MentorNET.net
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