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	<title>Comments on: White House held inaugural briefing for LGBT advocates</title>
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	<link>http://www.washingtonblade.com/2013/01/21/white-house-held-inaugural-briefing-for-lgbt-advocates/</link>
	<description>the gay community&#039;s news source</description>
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		<title>By: Army Joe</title>
		<link>http://www.washingtonblade.com/2013/01/21/white-house-held-inaugural-briefing-for-lgbt-advocates/#comment-90688</link>
		<dc:creator>Army Joe</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2013 17:06:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.washingtonblade.com/?p=57110#comment-90688</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It is a shame that the EEOC  made the ruling that the department of Defense
still does not play by those rules, does not include it in their training or
policy letters.  
Here is what has happened to me.

I came out in August 2010 while working as a U.S. Federal employee, working
at another division, due to being outed by a fellow team member.

During this time my management and the division management were aware that I
had had a legal name change, and that based upon physician data, the Social
security office, the state I work in, and the Federal government had
recognized me as &quot;Female&quot; and Civilian personnel office had me update and
change my name, gender, and issued me all new identification. 

I was told I could only use the executive bathroom at the front of the
building, where my office was located in the rear of the building, and that
I could not use the larger common area women&#039;s restroom (even with my gender
showing Female). This lead to a small inconvenience as the common female
restrooms had showers and lockers to change to work out on-site. One two
occasions I had to go to the restroom and either the executive restroom was
out of service, or it was under repair. Needless to say I was counseled
because many felt uncomfortable. 

During the nine months after transitioning, the excellent above par,
Superior comments disappeared; replaced by not being a team member, not
willing to work with anyone, to even not being invited to meetings I was
once a part of. I should note this was not for all of the personnel, for
there were a great deal of coworkers whom were supportive, and others who
saw the courage it took to do this and my behavior, values and ethics,
worked to change their attitude and not only accept me, but call me their
friend. For them I am eternally thankful. 

Other items included the team I worked on having off-site meeting where I
was not invited and not only did the supervisor condone harassment,
derogatory remarks, and find even the smallest thing to bring to management
for complaints, he not only encouraged it he initiated, and took part in it,
both with his team and with one of the Prime businesses that we had
contracted to work with to support our troops. This resulted in snide
remarks, snickers, and hostility which resulted in my removal from that
office ten months after transitioning there. 
Upon my return to the Agency I came from, I was given little or no tasking,
and things I had done unsupervised or as a lead were no longer a lead, but a
menial series of tasks, that either no one wanted to do, did not have time
to do, or did not want to do. All tasks I performed were done under
supervision, met with extreme criticism, review of efforts, and no support,
with greater allowances and excuses for those whom chose not to respond
until past the deadline. Reviews of completed work often came weeks or
months after the completion of the task and always seemed to have to be
redone, when they same formats and data of the reports had received comments
like innovative, excellent work, or superior technical analysis.

The Employment Equal Opportunity office investigation against the harassment
and hostile work environment have no results over a year and a half after
the incident occurred, and the Federal EEOC investigation against the
Business contracted to perform work, and does have a non-discrimination
policy for LGBT, and even the Office of Special Council for the federal
government have yet to resolve any portion(s) of the complaints, all is
still on-going, and the EEO is now approaching
300 days and there is no word on the status, there has been a fact finding,
there has not been any other guidance, and the Investigator in the Fact
Finding allowed his bigoted prejudicial item to be shown , and even after
asking questions to the management, and managements witnesses limited,
restricted and censored the same comments from the witness we provided.]]></description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It is a shame that the EEOC  made the ruling that the department of Defense<br />
still does not play by those rules, does not include it in their training or<br />
policy letters.<br />
Here is what has happened to me.</p>
<p>I came out in August 2010 while working as a U.S. Federal employee, working<br />
at another division, due to being outed by a fellow team member.</p>
<p>During this time my management and the division management were aware that I<br />
had had a legal name change, and that based upon physician data, the Social<br />
security office, the state I work in, and the Federal government had<br />
recognized me as &#8220;Female&#8221; and Civilian personnel office had me update and<br />
change my name, gender, and issued me all new identification. </p>
<p>I was told I could only use the executive bathroom at the front of the<br />
building, where my office was located in the rear of the building, and that<br />
I could not use the larger common area women&#8217;s restroom (even with my gender<br />
showing Female). This lead to a small inconvenience as the common female<br />
restrooms had showers and lockers to change to work out on-site. One two<br />
occasions I had to go to the restroom and either the executive restroom was<br />
out of service, or it was under repair. Needless to say I was counseled<br />
because many felt uncomfortable. </p>
<p>During the nine months after transitioning, the excellent above par,<br />
Superior comments disappeared; replaced by not being a team member, not<br />
willing to work with anyone, to even not being invited to meetings I was<br />
once a part of. I should note this was not for all of the personnel, for<br />
there were a great deal of coworkers whom were supportive, and others who<br />
saw the courage it took to do this and my behavior, values and ethics,<br />
worked to change their attitude and not only accept me, but call me their<br />
friend. For them I am eternally thankful. </p>
<p>Other items included the team I worked on having off-site meeting where I<br />
was not invited and not only did the supervisor condone harassment,<br />
derogatory remarks, and find even the smallest thing to bring to management<br />
for complaints, he not only encouraged it he initiated, and took part in it,<br />
both with his team and with one of the Prime businesses that we had<br />
contracted to work with to support our troops. This resulted in snide<br />
remarks, snickers, and hostility which resulted in my removal from that<br />
office ten months after transitioning there.<br />
Upon my return to the Agency I came from, I was given little or no tasking,<br />
and things I had done unsupervised or as a lead were no longer a lead, but a<br />
menial series of tasks, that either no one wanted to do, did not have time<br />
to do, or did not want to do. All tasks I performed were done under<br />
supervision, met with extreme criticism, review of efforts, and no support,<br />
with greater allowances and excuses for those whom chose not to respond<br />
until past the deadline. Reviews of completed work often came weeks or<br />
months after the completion of the task and always seemed to have to be<br />
redone, when they same formats and data of the reports had received comments<br />
like innovative, excellent work, or superior technical analysis.</p>
<p>The Employment Equal Opportunity office investigation against the harassment<br />
and hostile work environment have no results over a year and a half after<br />
the incident occurred, and the Federal EEOC investigation against the<br />
Business contracted to perform work, and does have a non-discrimination<br />
policy for LGBT, and even the Office of Special Council for the federal<br />
government have yet to resolve any portion(s) of the complaints, all is<br />
still on-going, and the EEO is now approaching<br />
300 days and there is no word on the status, there has been a fact finding,<br />
there has not been any other guidance, and the Investigator in the Fact<br />
Finding allowed his bigoted prejudicial item to be shown , and even after<br />
asking questions to the management, and managements witnesses limited,<br />
restricted and censored the same comments from the witness we provided.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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