Three lesbian moms, a transgender parent, and a gay dad walk into a room. . . .
No, it’s not the start of a joke, it’s the start of a discussion panel on LGBT parenting that I will be moderating during the Out and Equal Workplace Summit at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The parenting session, “Our communities, our careers and our families: Being an LGBT parent in the workplace,” will be October 6, 3:00 to 5:30 p.m.
If you’re going, drop me a note or just drop by the session! I hope to see some of you there.
Here’s the description:
In many ways, our stories as working parents are no different than those of our straight colleagues. Being a parent who is also lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, however, has aspects that are unique to our community. Listen to a panel of LGBT executives discuss how they experience the issues facing all parents who work—and those of special concern to those who identify as LGBT.
I’m looking forward to talking with the panelists—Renee Brown of Wachovia, Michelle Smith of Boeing, Stacy Smithers of Wells Fargo, and Mike Syers of Ernst & Young—about their personal parenting stories and their experiences, good and bad, as LGBT parents in the workplace. What would you ask such a panel?
Not really a parenting issue, but I’m curious how they’ve handled coming-out and being-out issues if their workplaces have people from very diverse cultures. About a third of my coworkers are relatively recent immigrants from one country known for having very negative views of gays. Another hefty percentage are immigrants from an array of other countries, few known for being liberal. In general, at my workplace we do not discuss politics, religion, or any other loaded topic. I’d be curious if any of the panelists have come out (and if so, what the reaction was) in a similar sort of environment.
I’d like to ask why you don’t haev any working class or non-preofessional people on the panel?
Good question, Lisa. I can’t speak for Out & Equal, who chose the panelists and myself to be part of the session. I’ll mention this to them as an idea for next time, though.