The List
At work I currently have a list full of names. These are names of gay professionals in Northern and Southern California. It was each person's name, their title, the company they work for, the county, and their email address. At the top of the list, in bold and extra-big font it says Privileged and Confidential. The list was given to me in a folder. There was some data entry to be done with this list. Any time I am not entering the data, the list is to be kept in the folder. If I walk away from my desk, the folder is to be kept in a drawer. If you've never done it, data entry is pretty mentally dull. The mind wanders.
When my mind wandered I noticed that some of the email addresses are not work email addresses, but personal ones. My gay boss is very out. I know, because we had a talk about it, when I had to call someone and out him, and wanted to confirm this was okay to do. Our sub-tenant is a branch of a law firm that includes one lesbian lawyer and one gay lawyer.
In my office, everyone is out. Very out. Lots of very un-PC gay jokes are made on a regular basis. Seeing this list, where some people used their personal email addresses rather than their professional ones was a stark reminder that not all the gay people are out. When I noticed this, I looked at the locations of the people using personal email addresses to see if my guess was correct. It was - all the people who used them happen to live in the very Republican, conservative area of the state.
Whenever I hear of somebody gay who isn't out I want to encourage them to move to San Francisco. Irrationally, I think since I'm straight the right thing to do would be to move out so there's room for the gay people. They need this city more than I do. But the issue isn't that there isn't enough room. I don't know what the issue is (though this being a super expensive city probably has something to do with it). Probably can't presume that all gay people have the same reasons for not moving to a more gay-friendly place than wherever they live.
When my mind wandered I noticed that some of the email addresses are not work email addresses, but personal ones. My gay boss is very out. I know, because we had a talk about it, when I had to call someone and out him, and wanted to confirm this was okay to do. Our sub-tenant is a branch of a law firm that includes one lesbian lawyer and one gay lawyer.
In my office, everyone is out. Very out. Lots of very un-PC gay jokes are made on a regular basis. Seeing this list, where some people used their personal email addresses rather than their professional ones was a stark reminder that not all the gay people are out. When I noticed this, I looked at the locations of the people using personal email addresses to see if my guess was correct. It was - all the people who used them happen to live in the very Republican, conservative area of the state.
Whenever I hear of somebody gay who isn't out I want to encourage them to move to San Francisco. Irrationally, I think since I'm straight the right thing to do would be to move out so there's room for the gay people. They need this city more than I do. But the issue isn't that there isn't enough room. I don't know what the issue is (though this being a super expensive city probably has something to do with it). Probably can't presume that all gay people have the same reasons for not moving to a more gay-friendly place than wherever they live.
Labels: G-A-Double-Y GAY, Overthinking, Work
posted by Green at 9/12/2013 10:05:00 PM
1 Comments:
GY - Love your blog, upon which I stumbled completely by accident. The name caught my eye and your writing drew me in.
So I got to this post and noted your comment "I don't know what the issue is..." Ironically funny because of course we know what the issue is, which is the sad fact that people aren't just accepted for being themselves, or are somehow judged/punished for being themselves when they aren't hurting anyone. (Sigh.)
Still, your irrational but compassionate thought about sacrificing your spot in the City for someone else is heartwarming and made me smile (as did most of your posts so far).
It does seem logical to expect if one is in a hostile environment that the best case scenario is to remove oneself from the environment, but you're right, people must have their reasons. Plus, there really is only so much room in SF, Santa Cruz, etc.
So much for ramblings from a stranger - just wanted to chime in and thank you for yours.
Post a Comment
<< Home