Surviving This Mess
As I sat in the hospital lobby waiting to be called to go be with Ray before his shoulder surgery, President Bush was on the television on the wall, looking down on us and explaining why we’re in a financial meltdown and what he is going to do about it. The stock market immediately dropped an additional 107 points.
“We’re in real trouble if he’s in charge” quipped a woman eating a Dunkin’ Donut pumpkin muffin.The common consensus on her observation was established with nods and grunts by everyone else waiting for a loved one in surgery.
“If you die today, will I be screwed financially?” I asked Ray on the long drive to the hospital from Provincetown.
“You weren’t before Lehman collapsed,” grumbled Ray who blames Treasury Secretary Paulson with the entire financial meltdown because of his decision to let Lehman fail.
“That was then, this is now,” I said. “It sounds like you shouldn’t die today.”
“I won’t,” he promised.
Everything has changed. What was true yesterday is not true today. That’s why my response has changed when I hear from people who want to do the work that I’m doing. In times past, I would encourage the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (hating the acronym GLBT as I do) people who wrote to me about becoming a diversity trainer to follow their bliss. Today, I urge them not to quit their day job. Until things settle down, we all need to sit tight.
At this moment, I’m leaving all of my clients alone, except to bug them for input on a new three-to-five minute animated diversity film that I’m developing. I’m not even asking them about dates they have scheduled with me for next year. My guess is that they are holding their breath too, hoping that everything will get back to normal sooner rather than later.
Under normal conditions, I would encourage men and women who want to provide corporate training on gay and transgender workplace issues to get in touch with Out and Equal, the Equality Forum, and the Human Rights Campaign. There are links for all of them on my web site. Out and Equal has a “train the trainer” program that would help build confidence in people who have never provided training before.
Successfully breaking into the diversity training field, I would argue, is immensely helped by the doing what is instructed in the career development book, What Color Is Your Parachute? It is important to make a list of all of one’s contacts in the field of interest and to ask for their guidance and help. Most people my age, I assume, enjoy the role of mentoring others as much as I do. I certainly want everyone who writes to me to trust that I am there for them and will be happy to do whatever I can to help them succeed.
In the past, I would also advise that providing training on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues requires more than just being able to put a face on the issues, though that is the most powerful teaching tool we have at our disposal. It requires hard work to become culturally competent on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and other related topics, as well as to be aware of and able to communicate with each one of your target audiences. To that end, I have recommend that aspiring trainers read my book Gay Issues in the Workplace as well as those by other trainers such as my friend Liz Winfield.
But that was then and this is now. My advice now is to continue to explore your options, continue to educate yourself, continue to stay in touch with me if you’d like, but, seriously, don’t quit doing what you’re doing now to ensure that you are sheltered, clothed, and fed. In the best of times, the field has changed dramatically since I started making corporate presentations on gay issues in the mid 1980s. I was the only show in town then and though it was a brand new and very controversial workplace issue, there was never a lack of work. At one time, I had five very fine trainers working with me, filling in when I wasn’t available. But even then, I insisted that they all keep their day jobs.
Since then, the field has been filled with dozens and dozens of others who are providing training across the globe on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues. HRC and NGLTF decided to focus attention on the workplace (though to my ongoing horror, HRC still only gives a puny 5 points out of 100 on their Corporate Equality Index to companies that provide diversity training on gay and transgender issues. Five points!) Out and Equal, which is doing an extraordinary job of bringing together gay and straight, transgender and non-transgender people from around the world once a year for their highly-informative conference, is offering training through its Building Bridges program. The Equality Forum also sponsors workplace gatherings. But many companies have begun providing their own in-house diversity training and nearly all of the major training organizations that used to focus solely on race and gender are now offering programs on sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. It’s a very competitive field.
So, there is good reason to be cautious, especially in the midst of this financial meltdown, about jumping head first into this field, especially if one is considering doing so right out of college. It is very rewarding work and we continue to need talented, dedicated people to carry on when some of the rest of us retire. But it’s not easy to make a living doing so, especially if you want to focus solely on gay and transgender issues.
In addition, my personal bias is that the best trainers have a little experience under their belts that gives their presentations breadth and depth. Just as it was foolish for the Catholic Church to allow young men to enter training for the priesthood right out of grade school or high school, so too should those who seek to educate others about gay and transgender issues have some experience and wisdom from which to draw. (Just maybe if President Bush had more experience governing, there would be more trust in his ability to guide us out of this economic mess.)
I’m glad to report that Ray’s operation was a complete success. He’s a little groggy from the pain-killing drugs, his arm is in a sling, and he has ice on his shoulder, but he’s getting back to normal. He’s now watching business reports on television and cursing Paulson for leaving Lehman out to dry.
