In the Life: Ep. 1104, "Out in the Workplace"

on this edition of In The Life our 10th anniversary celebration of gays in the workplace Wall Street invests in gay culture a force for change in Detroit labor and soldiers in a hidden War if you're an American citizen you have the right to serve and die for your country just like anyone else all this and more on in the Life America's gay and lesbian in the life is funded in part by the H Phenom Ringin Foundation additional support provided by the Gill Foundation the Overbrook Foundation Richard M and Peggy danziger James pepper William J Resnick Jeffrey B sorif the orcas Foundation and the annual support of in the Life members like you thank you welcome to in the life I'm Catherine Linton during the 10 years in the life has chronicled the growth and evolution of gay and lesbian America the progress we have made in the workplace has represented one of our community's greatest achievements one that has largely been won by the thousands who integrate their identities into their professional lives these everyday Heroes clear the way for other gays and lesbians to come out in honor of the progress our community has made on the job of those who helped achieve it and those who are still fighting for their right to work in the life is pleased to present our 10th anniversary retrospective of gays in the workplace our feature stories include a doctor who exposes homophobia as a health hazard growing pains in the Auto industry if they want to get rid of it they can do it and correspondent Dan carzlake's report on the battle facing America's gay and lesbian soldiers but first an inside look at the world of Finance Wall Street evokes a particular image a Bastion of conservatism an old school of traditional practice a boys club this rarified institution has rarely been known for its gay friendliness but thanks to a few courageous individuals life on the street has begun to shift the gay Financial Network and its gfn 25 list underscore this new breed of activism Andy hum has the story gay Financial Network founder Walter Schubert is a third generation member of the New York Stock Exchange and when he came out in 1994 he also became the first openly gay person to hold a seat there needless to say it wasn't easy being the first one out in the conservative world of Wall Street growing up as a gay man I did not have anyone that I could turn to to seek as a role model someone to give me courage someone to point the way for me if I wanted to live my life openly and honestly and we felt that to identify the quiet but yet constructive efforts made by individuals those Role Models would encourage today's youth and other not so young folks in the workplace that initiative led to the creation of the gfn 25 now in its second year the gfn 25 is a survey done annually by gfn.com seeking to identify the 25 most powerful openly gay and lesbian Executives in Corporate America each of the gfn.com 25 have in their own way help change attitudes in Corporate America in the Life caught up with two who offer very different examples of the kind of behind the scenes activism that is reshaping our economic and cultural landscape with the Myers Pride fund money manager Shelley Myers has proven that being gay friendly is not only viable for Corporate America it's profitable Morningstar the leading provider of investment information has given its highest rating to the fund those early articles in the financial press we're seeing yeah but what about the performance you know is this woman going to make any money and I'm very proud to say that this is a five-star Morningstar fund and today one of the top 25 funds in the country the pride fund is a mutual fund that only invests in companies that have written anti-discrimination policies in place for gays and lesbians yeah the reasons I started this Pride fun is there wasn't a product out there that really focused on the issues of job discrimination for gays and lesbians and I felt that tied into management teams that have the vision and the open-mindedness that I think managers need to have in order to provide Superior returns here in the 21st century and second is so important for gays and lesbians to start thinking about providing for their Futures Shelley has stuck to a very disciplined approach not sacrificing her focus on value and yet at the same time is able to marry that with companies who also have very strong and explicit policies protecting gays in the workplace the first team at JPMorgan Chase Martin Atkin has been instrumental in the development of non-discrimination policies domestic partner benefits and in LGBT employee group I don't feel that by being gay is something that is Fred and Center for either myself or for the colleagues around me while I have been through my process of coming out and operating as an openly gay man in this environment similarly Corporate America and JP Morgan specifically has been through many changes which reflect that same kind of Journey policies are changed by people attitudes are changed by experience and openly gay human beings in the context of the workplace especially in Senior Management levels are changing the attitudes and the awareness of corporate America for the better towards the gay community we were very early in doing uh specific recruiting JP Morgan was the first to do the DP benefits for sensex partners that is more broadly true now of the financial services industry and frankly the way in which we now approach the Gan lesbian community feels very little different to me than the way in which we approach the African-American Community or the Hispanic Community we don't just passively look for companies that have these policies we engage company managements and active discussions about their policies and I have a unique not just me but Wall Street has a very unique door open to them when it comes to company management we get invited to numerous lunches and dinners with the top Executives we have access to the top Executives that you simply would not get walking in through the front door and I feel like I can make a different kind of contribution behind the scenes we are not going to have full civil rights in this country until we come out in Mass I can understand why people don't come out people are afraid of losing their jobs now we need to make the workplace a safe place more and more companies have to take seriously that here is a five-star fund which will potentially invest in their company but only if that company has stated anti-discrimination policies so I think Shelley Myers has done a great deal to advance equal rights civil rights for Americans who are gay Martin has articulated extremely well through the management of JP Morgan that you would rather have your Workforce in the office dedicated to doing a good job and maximizing their productivity rather than having them closeted and spending a great deal of energy covering their tracks and hiding the fact that they're gay I've been far more successful since I was able to integrate the professional side of my life on the personal side of my life in a very open and clear way I know that will be true for most others and contribution not only to me as an individual but to the firm I see the benefit to the firm very clearly we don't compete by making a better car we compete by putting better teams of people in front of our clients and if we're to put the best in front of our clients we need to attract the best and the best isn't a single complexion of personal it's a diverse complexion of person yeah we're beginning to see the role models and we're beginning to see the success stories and we're not only beginning to see these stories but we're beginning to see how these people have made a difference where it hasn't necessarily jeopardized their jobs it would be great to see Universal adoption of anti-discrimination policies Universal adoption of DP benefits for gays and lesbians because I believe that those two actions by Corporate America are highly visible and highly measurable I'd like to see the vast majority of gays and lesbians investing for their own Financial Security to me an ideal world is that we don't have to do interviews like this anymore and that my fun becomes completely and totally obsolete I guess as a segue back to the gfn 25 that's kind of why we've gone out there to highlight these individuals and to highlight those corporations that are truly understanding that diversity is good for the bottom line and it's also good for the corporate soul and the corporate culture I'm not going to say that that process of change is over there's yet more to be done and I'm sure we have you know Bridges yet to cross that we may not have to fully identified but we are certainly out there making the progress and it's irreversible fund is now the citizens value fund and Shelley continues its management with the same gay positive criteria at press time Morningstar had rated it the number one Fund in its category year to date the gay Financial Network's offices were less than a block from the World Trade Center and officially inside Ground Zero we're happy to report that though they were traumatized and dislocated from their offices Walter and the gfn staff weren't physically harmed by the attack and with indomitable Spirit they hauled out their network servers and were back online in 14 days thank you Dorothy rsner was one of the great directors in the Golden Age of Hollywood a Pioneer A Gifted professional and an unashamed lesbian her many accomplishments included directing Paramount Pictures first talkie for which she invented the now mandatory boom microphone I'm Lee Rose and you're watching in the life huh come on Mike let's go musician producer and entrepreneur Joy Cardwell creates a very different kind of workplace I'm gay no um that's been an open fact I guess since the beginning of my career hi George you know realness is a big part of my life and I think that uh young kids don't have enough role models I am in a relationship of almost three years our nephew his name is Michael he lives with us here and that's a real trip becoming overnight mothers to a seven-year-old boy I was born in the Bronx literally born in the Bronx and scuttled to Queens where I was raised lived there most of my life my first performance was at five years old at Carnegie Hall where I was in the dance recital I always saw a performing as something that everyone did I started so young it didn't seem like anything unnatural for me I write all my own songs it's all my voice so I do the backgrounds myself as well sometimes I call other people and when I need a little weight to it I guess the primary message that I always try to convey is one of Hope one of Oneness with all people Universal themes about love and disappointments and empowerment things that as a woman in particular and as a woman of color and you know colorfulness I try to make sure that my messages are always positive I think growing up in the city has made me more open to almost anything to uh to other cultures to other experiences and I think the energy of of the city definitely has played a part perhaps more so in the past than it does now I find um Serenity to be a little more appropriate for creating the other side of of my sanity is my partner Lori is the the partner and a true sense when I can't do something she is the person that is helping me I think having that a relationship that is actually a true partnership is the only way that that anybody who has so many responsibilities can get through them how was your day having Michael here is an exercise in patience did you have science today no so it's another way of I guess humbling Myself by you know living my life for a child because that is our main focus right now the music is is you know something I do and I'm in and out of town and stuff like that but family is very important so who who wears the small shoes the ballerina which one which word is ballerina this one this one this one or this one ballerina we moved here to be closer to my family particularly my mom who passed away this year I had a good life with her and I have a lot of great memories she's the one that gave me my first tape recorder in my first stereo and tell me not to mess up her records you know gave me a respect for music I never thought of that I would be this this Dance Diva or whatever that I've been called the Persona is a person that only exists for a couple of minutes when the lights and cameras and and the stage is there um that to me is almost not a real life although they didn't know it was intended for me once I get up on stage I step out of my average chat and hang it up on the hook and become something larger than that because that's what it's all about the fantasy of being bigger than life I don't know thank you very much Joy continues to share her life with her partner Lori and the two remain close to their nephew Michael prolific as ever Joy is now releasing a new album and a greatest hits compilation both through her own record label Nomad Industries thank you hi I'm Roger bar and I'm Gary Beach from The Producers right we are supposedly Broadway's favorite couple and you're watching in the life I think we're just the best looking foreign 1997 the United Auto Workers demanded that Chrysler had sexual orientation to their non-discrimination policy Chrysler refused so in the Life took a trip to Detroit at this point in time the company can come at us and fire us for no reason at all and it's not fair it's it's discrimination and it's you've always got a dinosaur on your back because you're you never know if they're if they want to get ready they can do it last fall Chrysler refused to include sexual orientation Protections in their contract with the UAW arguing that they already had a general policy of non-discrimination in protest Ron and other activists organized the campaign for equal rights at Chrysler picketing for months at Chrysler World Headquarters adding sexual orientation to the contract they refused that is our goal that is our demand I personally and I know many other people that will not stop until we receive that demand meanwhile non-union employees were organizing again lesbian employee Association people of diversity the goals of people of diversity at Chrysler um really reflect trying to work within the corporation and within the corporate structure as an educating and advocating voice for the gay and lesbian Community also in the works from a socially responsible investment firm was a stockholder resolution a stock had a resolution is sort of like a ballot referendum for shareholders when you own stock in a company a company will mail out once every year it's proxy statement which will ask all shareholders to vote on a number of issues on behalf of Chrysler shareholders Shelly alpern proposed a resolution calling for new policies on sexual orientation we were looking for three things from Chrysler one that they changed the policy to be explicit about it secondly that they publicize it internally so that all employees would be aware of exactly what was expected of them and number three that they back up the new policy with diversity training that would cover sexual orientation issues in the workplace Chrysler agreed to the demands of the resolution on the condition that it not appear on the proxy statement so far they have revised an employee policy to include sexual orientation in its non-discrimination clause the new policy that came out it was a surprise to us we were not aware that it was happening um it's great it's an awesome step it really is it's it's an official policy of Chrysler that actually spells out the word sexual orientation I think it is a positive step but it absolutely is just a positive step we want substantial real fundamental change here at Chrysler what's happened was the company learned to spell they actually learned how to spell sexual orientation but they didn't know exactly where to put it they need to put it on the contract between the UAW and the corporation but Chrysler argues that adding sexual orientation to legally protected categories such as race and gender sends the wrong message one of the things that we think is important as a corporation is to send a message that we will not tolerate discrimination or harassment against any of our employees on any basis and to further spell out and list out groups we felt might lead individuals who were not listed to believe that they were excluded and our intent was to ensure that all of our employees know that they are included in our non-discrimination policy Martha grovotte has been out on the job since 1989 and has suffered years of harassment I think that management is perhaps more willing to address a complaint of discrimination when it comes to one of their own one of their own supervisors or their own top level engineering staff that generally management often has an attitude of contempt towards hourly workers towards people who work with their hands we are very concerned about our employees we believe that it is very important for us to have an inspired Workforce in order to deliver the kinds of products to our customers that we want to so to the extent that there are employees in our Workforce who have concerns we would encourage them to to come forth and to have a confidential conversation with me or someone in my office so that perhaps we can give them the kinds of assurances that they would need to bring forth any concerns that they have but what about those who remain closeted to avoid harassment we contacted 11 additional employees who would not be interviewed on camera and only one would agree to appear anonymously it's really hard um I want to tell to people that I work with a lot um but I rely on them to be able to perform my job and if they want to mess me up so I keep quiet and do the best I can do I'm very out at work I work with a really incredible group of people um my boss is great he knows about pod in fact I run press releases and stuff by him these drastically different experiences at Chrysler are why some union members continue to push for the contract changes I mean I believe in being ployed do not get me wrong but sometimes you have to lay it on the line and say you're not going to give it we've tried for five years to get this and so we're going to pick it I don't just want language there's all kinds of anti-discrimination language but the Discrimination still goes on have to guard everything that comes out of my mouth to protect myself and I do that it's very hard real hard according to work net a project of the Human Rights Campaign the Daimler Chrysler Corporation now includes sexual orientation and their non-discrimination policy worknet also reports that in 2000 Chrysler began offering domestic partner benefits 1979 marked the first national March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian rights the March Drew between a hundred thousand and two hundred thousand marches depending on who you believe I'm Mel Johnson Jr and you're watching in the life still to come on in the Life extraordinary leadership in the church and a war for gay soldiers but first a woman who proves of being out at work offers an opportunity to advocate for change Dr Cato Hanlon a Bay Area OB GYN runs her own practice she also founded the lesbian health fund fought for and won domestic partnership benefits at Albert Einstein and Stanford Medical Centers and has published many studies on homophobia in health care I get up generally some good amount before seven o'clock surgery starts at 7 30 each day that I operate and my office typically is supposed to start at nine but anytime somebody needs to be fit in because of some diagnosis or suspicion of cancer will add them in the early morning hi Terry this is Kate o' Hamlin I'm returning your phone calls to me I'm sorry it's taking a little bit I have asked Lori and Lori has called in a prescription for you to continue the center rail and hopefully that will get you back into a pain-free state and just stay on again keep a measurement of your bone density measure get a dual x-ray absorb geometry and gynecologic oncologist that's um that's a ob gyn who has had sub-specialty training so that she focuses on the cancers of the reproductive tract I spend about half my week in surgery and surgery is fun it gives me an opportunity to to be artsy crafty I'd leave really pretty small incisions it's great to to see how nicely you can hide the incision how nicely you can leave things inside I saw my dad having fun when he was a surgeon when they have the order right in my hot little hand and I thought I could do that too everything thank you all right okay all right I would love to tell you that everything was perfectly ordered and I was perfectly on time for every part of my day here I am late for a talk and then now late for my office hey I've got held up in surgery they took my wallet and everything no seriously I got held up and so I'm going to be uh probably 45 minutes to let's say an hour it's not difficult or hard to be out even though there's still like a lot of lesbian and gay men who are in the closet in the medical profession being out is actually okay I think it's being an activist it's making a political stand they've appeared to be you know very supportive of proactive civil rights because it is in the non-described statement at Stanford so reducing homophobia could be part of my life mission I mean as a gynecologist my initial goal was increasing the ability for women to self-actualize by enabling them to be more empowered with regard to their health I'm actually doing the same thing for us gays and lesbians lesbians have fewer children I give Grand rounds to other doctors other health care providers I give a talk that's called homophobia as a health hazard I give them the facts about homosexuality and they rarely get mammograms because they're not going in to see any doctor regularly about 60 percent of lesbians said that they had trouble with one with coming out to their doctor they were fearful of doing it what were they afraid of the lesbian patients were afraid that if they did come out to their physician they would receive a lower level of care in fact in one important questionnaire the a respondent said it's like putting your hand your health in the hands of someone who really hates you as a physician we have I recognize and I hope all my colleagues recognize that we have to do something about that the American College of OB gyns is responsible for doctors continuing medical education and they make some patient education brochures after four years of a letter writing campaign I finally got them to make a brochure called lesbian health and while this brochure isn't everything that I would have it be for lesbians to introduce them to all information about their health it certainly is a good start it'll get them in for Pap smears and it'll help them to have a healthy relationship with their doctor and in fact just seeing this in the doctor's office will tell a lesbian that she's welcome in that office we doctors who are in science have contact with all the facts we know that the psychiatric literature shows there's nothing abnormal immoral wrong sick deviant or infectious about homosexuality and yet we're not doing anything about it you know we didn't do anything about racism either we sat by quietly and let Society just plod along until very slowly people chipped away at the laws to reduce racism at least in the legal system so that you know it's not supported socially well that's not happening quickly enough for me with respect to homophobia I don't want to say this some other young gal in the Shenandoah Valley to grow up feeling as sick as I did it's the bottom line are you sexually active yes and are you sexual with men or women or both or neither men men okay let me check the lymph nodes so these lymph nodes ever swell up on you when I get a cold and they go back on the home front I've had a little more time at home and now in my 11th year with Lioni Walker I'm having I'm having more joy than ever before she's a great gal and I'm blessed to be married to her without her I don't think I would ever have been as bold or as aggressive if you will in pursuing our civil rights with respect to getting health insurance I want every straight and gay and lesbian person to see it as their responsibility that I don't have my civil rights yet and so I spend my life trying to help women have their health and try and help gays and lesbians have their health of mind and body Kate's Crusade against homophobia continues to reshape medical policy toward gay and lesbian Health she and her partner celebrated their 15th anniversary in November during the decade that in the life has been on the air the movement for Gay and Lesbian civil rights has made progress on a number of fronts according to the Human Rights Campaign only 12 companies offered domestic partnership benefits to their employees in 1990. today 4 304 employers are known to provide same-sex partnership benefits including more than 117 state and local governments and 148 companies in the Fortune 500 this represents a thirty six thousand percent increase I'm Patricia Clarkson and you're watching in the life I'm Arizona state representative and Army Lieutenant Steve may and you're watching in the life when correspondent Dan carzlike reported our next story in April of 2001. America was not at War given our new reality this investigation into the Fallout of the homosexual conduct policy also known as don't ask don't tell don't pursue takes on a fresh relevance the numbers are growing at an alarming rate according to the military's own estimates three military personnel are discharged every day because they have allegedly violated the don't ask don't tell don't pursue policy compared to 1994 that's nearly twice the rate of discharge increasingly though it's the military that's being accused of violating its own policy we spoke to a young man who's currently serving in the military about how violations to the don't ask don't tell don't pursue policy have affected his career I enlisted to uh to travel and to serve my country my family background also has some somewhat of a military background in itself and I just wanted to see the world John not his real name has asked us to keep his identity a secret because by simply agreeing to be interviewed he could be putting his military career at risk I've gone through everything from verbal harassment taunting physical altercations almost pushing and I've also received a death threat note that almost you know made life really bad John called us a while back he was very concerned Stacy Sobel is legal director of the service member's legal defense network a group that assists individuals harmed by the don't ask don't tell don't pursue policy he'd found out that someone had alleged that he was gay the person had said that John made esteem that he was gay and he didn't know what to do he didn't know what his rights were and he needed some advice the command did an investigation to try to determine whether he in fact was gay and they decided to keep him in until I was under my first investigation I was not officially told what the donational hotel policy was there were a number of places where the military strayed from the from the policy in his case first of all he was asked that's the first thing don't ask other service members are repeatedly asking him if he was gay or not additionally he was pursued someone had alleged that he was gay that he hadn't made a statement but there was no other evidence and we believe that that was not sufficient to start an investigation in July of 1999 at Fort Campbell Kentucky private Barry Winchell was beaten to death with a baseball bat while he slept by a fellow Soldier because he believed Winchell was gay private Winchell's murderer touched me when I thought about it and I sat down and I read the news and the articles about it I started reviewing the problems that I had had in the past and I wasn't surprised at all I've been in situations where that same exact thing could have happened to me many times as a result of his murder the Department of Defense started An Inspector General survey and that survey went and interviewed about 75 000 service members from all over the world and what that survey found was that 80 percent of all service members hear anti-gay speech and that 85 percent said it was tolerated to some extent and those numbers are just unacceptable this Department of Defense report also characterized harassment of homosexuals in the military as commonplace and though it's law that all service members receive training on the policy an incredible 57 percent said that they had received none I believe people are uncertain what the policy actually means Reverend Bernard Wilson who was not gay served as a naval chaplain for more than 20 years before retiring in January of 2000. so when you have an ambiguous policy it's difficult to train to it because you're uncertain what you're training people to do despite our requests and Pentagon would agree to be interviewed for this story sociologist Laura Miller for her take on why some people feel the policy is necessary one argument that's been very effective in upholding people's convictions that the don't ask don't tell policy should remain in place is the argument that eunuch cohesion will be disrupted if open gays are introduced into the unit my response to individuals that say it's a morale or trust or whatever reason it is to be honest with you they're full of crap I've served on an area or a command that I was able to see individuals in a non-homophobic environment serve openly and there was no camaraderie problem there's no morale problem as a matter of fact you know everybody seemed closer together like I said they were like a family straight men in the military who are worried about gay men in the military are worried that gay men are going to act toward them the way they act toward women so pursuing harassment potentially assault and they don't want to be in that position there's often lifted the the concept that having uh homosexuals serve on in such a closely knit environment invites trouble that has not been my experience in the military um the morale suffers if leadership isn't doing its job if it isn't taking care of its people it has nothing to do with whether there are gays serving in those units and I'm always always surprised when they use that reason for not allowing gays to serve in the military studies of soldiers attitudes racial integration reflected some of the same strength and opposition to integration a lot of white soldiers said I shouldn't have to be in Intimate circumstances with blacks they set differences in the races and problems that the race has had getting along would lead to mistrust and discomfort in serving with one another and a number of people have drawn parallels between the opposition by soldiers now to working with homosexuals and oppositions that happened with race when the forces were desegregated in 1948 there needed to be a cultural change and certainly churches helped by declaring racism and a sin I think that's a place for the religious institutions to step in and say the the attitude of our citizens against people who are homosexual or lesbian is is wrong it sin and we ought to take a stand against it one thing the band does I think is give soldiers who would have a tendency to act hostily toward gays sort of the I don't know wink and nudge to go ahead and do it and also they have the confidence that gay soldiers aren't going to go complain about how they're being treated because they know if if that person reveals their sexuality that they'll be dismissed from the military there's nowhere to turn to when you're in a hostile environment you cannot turn to a chaplain you cannot turn to a doctor and sometimes you try to turn to a superior and that Superior will turn you in so and that starts a whole another ball of wax right there it is very difficult for service members to have to live a lie every single day while they're serving and it's especially difficult when the services have what they call their core values and those core values tell service members that they are supposed to conduct themselves with honesty and integrity and it's the double lives that service members have to leave that often make them contact us why do I remain in the military after my situations and problems first of all I'm a fighter I'm not a quitter I did not realize that until after a few years of being in the service and the main and wholeheartedly reason is because I joined the military to serve my country to be a patriot in the best of all possible Worlds the United States military would have United States citizens serving fully in every and any job required to protect our nation whether we're gay straight lesbian bisexual transgendered whatever if you're an American citizen you have the right to serve and die for your country just like anyone else currently 23 Nations allow gays and lesbians to serve openly within their militaries in fact with the exception of turkey the United States is the only original member of NATO that continues to ban service by open gay and lesbian people only time will tell how the Bush Administration will handle this controversial policy in the first days of operation enduring Freedom the Bush Administration and the military suspended don't ask don't tell don't pursue this action directly undermines their own argument that openly gay and lesbian soldiers threaten unit cohesion and morale which are clearly critical during war in 1974 Kathy kozichenko won a seat on the Ann Arbor Michigan City Council and became the first openly gay candidate elected to public office in America I'm Dan Butler and you're watching in the life be sure to tune in to the next episode of in the life when oscar-winning writer Alan Ball reveals the stories behind American Beauty and his HBO series Six Feet Under the guy just cruised you really right in front of me like I'm not even here dude we profile Health Center for the LGBT community and in the Life Journeys into the rarely seen world of gay Muslims something actually you finally tonight we'll meet a lesbian who works in the classroom and in the Pulpit Irene Monroe has faced and overcome obstacles all her life at six months old she was found abandoned in a trash can in Brooklyn New York today Reverend Irene Monroe is one of the country's most accomplished and outspoken theologians in 1999 in the Life visited this incredible woman at Harvard University Iris abandoned at six months they they estimated that I was about six months and so where most people have a date of birth and certainly have a birth name they estimated since they found me on July 11th that January 11th would be my birth date assigned birthday and I get the name Irene Monroe because Sister Irene who was the head nun of the New York foundling Hospital which is in New York City was a Marilyn Monroe fan and so she named me Irene Monroe just looking at my life I grew up in a economically distressed Enclave of Brooklyn New York with foster parents who unfortunately were functionally illiterate and they also as example showed me the difficulty of not having an education so education was um was absolutely essential Irene and her new family partner Dr Thea James an emergency room physician and their dog and cat live in Cambridge Irene and Thea have been together for five years fear is my best friend my my as they say my bestest a friend she's really my best friend um she runs this race with me she would say she's more disciplined she is she wakes up in a good mood every morning she's always smiling as a matter of fact when I first met her I thought it was a little weird that she'd wake up in the morning and she'd sing to the animals you know she'd sang to the dog she'd sing to the cat I thought it was a little strange but now you know I I'm used to it and I appreciate it and it's a wonderful thing you know to wake up to someone like that every day she's really learned what it can be like to have your partner as your best friend and how wonderful it can be and how it can it can go on and it can last forever and I probably in turn have learned that from her having graduated from Wellesley College in Union Seminary Irene is now a doctoral student at Harvard Divinity School where she is the head teaching fellow for Reverend Peter Gomes Peter Gomes has been a mentor I have to say in my life here at Harvard it's been quite difficult um being an African-American lesbian doctoral student and particularly at the Divinity School so I haven't had very much mentoring and being his head teaching fellow has been a wonderful gift Irene has standards very high standards and she takes No Nonsense she's been there done that and she's also a first class academician so she knows all of the academic games so she's perfect you know in a Place full of hustlers and posers such as Harvard College you can't get away with anything with Irene I'm and I'm glad she's working for him and not against me in his 1990 27 National bestseller the good book Peter Gomes wrote that the Bible was being misinterpreted by the religious right in order to exclude gay and lesbian people from the kingdom of God well I say that there's a tremendous burden of moral responsibility and guilt on anybody who would presume to exclude gays and lesbians and sexual minorities from the kingdom of heaven and any Christian who presumes to speak that invites Divine wrath and retribution that is that is the most arrogant and wicked assumption on the part of fallible human beings of of divine power and everything that we know about God is contrary to that parochial petty little point of view so I think the good news the gospel for gay people is that you may have a beef with the church and the church may even have a beef with you but you don't have a beef with God and God certainly doesn't have one with you I do think that is lesbian gay bisexual and transgender people we need to take back the Bible the very tool that's used as a as a tool of Oppression we can turn that around to be a tool of Liberation African Americans did that clearly when the Bible was certainly used as the biblical legitimate biblical sanction for slavery and we've turned that around turn that around as a tool of of Liberation women have turned the Bible around as a tool of Liberation and it's now our time to do the same through her preaching her participation in seminars and conferences across the country and her weekly column which appears in a Boston newspaper Irene is fulfilling her call to be what she terms a public Theologian it's important that those of us who are queer theologians to make ourselves accessible in a way to explain to our community how religion is used against us but at the same time can be used to liberate us she's out there she's getting her hands dirty she's out there among the people so I see her role I see her theology as coming from doing that kind of work it's certainly not my experience of her is that she's certainly not doing theology from the Ivory Tower and she's taking theology back where it belongs on the street in the newspaper on the radio and television she talks theologically to people who don't know she's talking theologically which probably is the best way to do it last year Irene wrote an article about Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan which caused Great controversy especially in the African-American community I open up saying that his misogyny is no different than Christian African-American Christian ministers but that because Louis Farrakhan is in the Limelight we have a lot more quotes by him and a lot more information about how he has shaped his misogyny and homophobia but in essence this kind of misogyny that he espouses in homophobia is really pandemic throughout the entire as I said African-American Community to have one kind of a street extremism shape the American culture Shad is very much what democracy is about which is about Freedom individual Freedom you can't help how you come in this world but you certainly can help how you leave it and what you do while you're here God's gift to us is our life and what we do with our life is our gift back to God so that's sort of what motivates me for all of us in the life thank you for watching and we'll see you next month thank you foreign Foundation additional support provided by the Gill Foundation the Overbrook Foundation Richard M and Peggy danziger James pepper William J Resnick Jeffrey B sorif the Arcus Foundation and the annual support of in the Life members like you foreign