Out & Equal to Dallas County: You mind adding transgender protections before our convention?
Fresh to the Inbox tonight is a copy of a letter from Selise Berry, founding executive director of Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, to members of the Dallas County Commissioners Court.
Berry, a former Dallas resident, writes to thank the commissioners for adding sexual orientation to the county’s nondiscrimination policy a few weeks back — and to strongly encourage them to add gender identity.
Out and Equal, a nonprofit organization dedicated to achieving full equality in the the workplace, will bring more than 2,500 business leaders to Dallas in October for its annual Summit, one of the largest LGBT conventions in the world.
“We selected Dallas for our conference in part because of its combination of a strong LGBT community and its positive corporate environment,” Berry writes. “The Summit brings together executives, human resources and diversity professionals, and openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees from the nation’s largest corporations to strategize, network and engage new ways to bring full equality to the workplace for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. When they arrive, we hope they’ll see Dallas County as a model for fairness, with fully inclusive protections that include both gender identity and sexual orientation.”
To read Berry’s full letter, go here.
The Out & Equal DFW group will meet on Saturday, April 16th from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Resource Center, 2701 Reagan Street, Dallas 75219.
The Out & Equal DFW Regional Affiliate was officially recognized as an affiliate by Out & Equal Workplace Advocates in October 2004. Its initial membership included representatives from American Airlines, Bank of America, Citi, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, KPMG, Quest Diagnostics, Raytheon, Texas Instruments and Wells Fargo.
We are a coalition of LGBT ERG and affinity group leaders and members, HR and diversity professionals, and of straight allies from Dallas, Fort Worth and the surrounding North Texas communities. Our members include those employed in the private and public sectors, including non-profit organizations, academic and corporate entities.
The Out & Equal DFW Regional Affiliate seeks to produce local educational and networking events that provide a forum for discussion about LGBT workplace issues. We also provide a direct link between Out & Equal national and the wider DFW Metroplex by advocating the organization’s values and mission through events, outreach and programming beyond the Workplace Summit. We hope to provide direct support to the LGBT workplace community and to be a key educational resource for LGBT professionals.