Dynamic Speakers Announced for 2011 Workplace Summit

This year's Out & Equal Workplace Summit schedule is already packed with speakers who will energize, inform and engage you. Here are just a few of the highlights:

• Wes Bush, CEO of Northrup Grumman
• Paul Bell, Dell's President of the Public & Large Enterprise Business Units
• Mike Ullman, Chairman and CEO of JC Penney
• Assistant Secretary Kathy Martinez, head of the U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy
• Joel Burns, the openly gay City Council member from Fort Worth, Texas

We have also confirmed some amazing entertainment, designed to showcase LGBT entertainers and culture. Among our featured guests are the actress Meredith Baxter and Bravo's Andy Cohen, and we'll be welcoming back our MC, Kate Clinton.

"We are very proud each year of our speakers and this year is definitely no exception," commented Selisse Berry, Out & Equal's founding executive director. "At the Summit, you are going to hear from business leaders, political pioneers, and groundbreaking entertainers--people who have made a genuine and positive difference in the lives of LGBT people through the work they've done and the commitments they've made."

Click to read more information and expanded bios of our speakers.   

Happy Pride! 

At Out & Equal we want to wish you a happy LGBT Pride month! Many of our members and friends have planned educational events for their companies, are marching in parades with their ERGs, organized socials and just enjoyed the season. Many of our Regional Affiliates are holding special events, some with packed schedules. If you've been doing something special for Pride at your work, we invite you to send us a picture or two along with a few sentences for us to share on our blog.

Out & Equal was part of a local TV station's celebration of Pride as our Executive Director Selisse Berry was honored as a local hero. You can view Selisse's video online.  

Happy Pride to All!

2011 Workplace Summit: Sponsorship Deadline is June 30

Get the recognition you deserve!

BECOME A SPONSOR OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST LGBT CONFERENCE ADDRESSING WORKPLACE EQUALITY FOR ALL  

Demonstrate your company's commitment to diversity, promote your brand, build business to business relationships, AND receive free registrations, advertising, exhibit hall booth and more...

Sign up by June 30th to receive all the benefits. When you support  

Out & Equal as a sponsor your company demonstrates its partnership with Out & Equal to protect and empower LGBT employees to be productive and successful at work - so they can support themselves, their families, and contribute to achieving a world free of discrimination for everyone.

Check out this year's Workplace Summit sponsor levels and benefits brochure, which also has a list of upgrades and a la carte purchases on page 14. You are also invited to review the impressive list of companies who have already signed on as 2011 sponsors.

Contact us TODAY about sponsorship opportunities!

We welcome the opportunity to discuss sponsorship opportunities with you and will work to meet your corporate and community diversity objectives.  Contact Sherrie Holmes, Director of Development at 415.694.6508, sholmes@outandequal.org.  Or, sign up online by June 30^th!

Out & Equal Out in the World!

Executive Director Selisse Berry is currently spreading the message of LGBT equality and furthering the work of Out & Equal as she travels across Europe. Selisse keynoted the 4th Annual International GLBT Business Leader's Forum in Rome alongside Harry van Dorenmalen, Chairman IBM Europe; Nichi Vendola, President of the Apulia Region in Italy; and the Honorable Anna Paola Concia, Italian Deputy and the first openly lesbian member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies.  You can read more about Selisse's time in Rome. 

Executive Director Selisse Berry (center) with conference organizers in Budapest

After the conference in Rome, Selisse headed to the 2nd Hungarian Business LGBT Leaders & Human Rights Forum hosted by the British Embassy where she teamed up with British Ambassador Greg Dorey and the Director of Amnesty International Hungary, Orsolya Jeney to discuss multiple topics, including the fact the one-third of Hungary's LGBT community has reported discrimination. By creating new partnerships both foreign and domestic, Selisse is expanding Out & Equal's commitment to ending LGBT employment discrimination, not only in the United States, but throughout the world.

Town Call: Making Self-ID a Reality

Join Out & Equal for our monthly town call on Self-ID, coming up on June 30 at 12 noon Pacific Time. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Voluntary Self Identification (Self ID) is becoming a standard for evaluating if a company is working toward LGBT equality in the workplace.  First as an emerging trend in in 2007, 17% of the companies reporting were using anonymous surveys to allow LGBT employees to self-identity; by 2011 35% of the companies were using surveys or HR Records to track LGBT employees.  The new CEI 3.0 will also include Self-ID under Organizational LGBT Competency.  Join this town call that will provide the latest updates from the LGBT Self ID Community of Practice but also provide insights into how companies have moved the theory into reality. Town calls are a free community service but we do ask you to Register now!  

Read more about Self ID 

International Town Call Series - LGBT Refugees

Imagine every day facing death threats and the possibility of torture because you are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT).  Tragically, violence still happens to LGBT people here in the United States, but it is far more frequent in countries where the state has made it a policy to target or eliminate LGBT people. Some of those people are lucky enough to escape and seek asylum in other countries.

What would happen to your life if you suddenly have to leave everything you knew, including your family and your job, and find yourself in a country you may have only read about in school?  Groups such as ORAM, the Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration, are beginning the work of building a global LGBT perspective that includes the needs and perspectives of LGBT refugees.  ORAM is the only international nongovernmental organization focusing exclusively on refugees and asylum seekers fleeing sexual and gender-based violence. 

Join this international town call to understand the scope of LGBT refugee issues and what corporations can do to provide support to those who have had to run for their lives just for being who they are.  

Houston Affiliate Rallies Art and Business Leaders

As patrons and sponsors, corporations play a pivotal role in the cultural and arts organizations of every major city.  Yet, arts organizations are big business - and major employers in a region in their own right.  Very often the assumption is that arts organizations are havens for LGBT people to work and play - yet are they?  Out & Equal Houston brought corporate leaders and arts leaders together to discuss what it is like to be "out" as an LGBT person or ally in the expansive Houston arts community. 

Called, "Out with the Arts," the event allowed for cross-sector networking and a lively panel of leaders of arts organizations to discuss the culture of LGBT inclusion in the region. The evening's program began with remarks by Niloufar Molavi, Chief Diversity Officer for PricewaterhouseCoopers.  Molavi spoke about the importance of having an inclusive workplace where everyone has opportunities to not only contribute but to thrive - something that all businesses need to be successful. Read on

Check out our blog posts on Addressing the needs of LGBT refugees and asylum seekers, Advances in Transgender Veteran Rights, Employee Resource Groups and PRIDE, United Nations Addresses LGBT Human Rights, The Importance of LGBT Visibility, and more.