sdyer@bbncca.ARPA (Steve Dyer) (08/14/84)
Dionysus' comments bring up a question of what it means to be "out"
at work.
Sexual preference is truly irrelevant to performing your job well,
and my own feeling is that making an issue about it, either through
extreme secrecy or "flaunting it", is just extra baggage that you
have to lug around. Naturally, everyone has a definition of just
what "flaunting it" means.
I don't have any desire to have a picture of my lover on my desk,
but, then, I think I'd feel no different if I were married (to a
woman, that is.) People who work with me know that I'm gay, and
there's a larger group who have read or heard of net.motss.
Probably most don't know at all, which is just fine. Strangely,
I haven't been confronted too often with the company-sponsored
bring-your-SO affairs: one of us has usually been out of town.
--
/Steve Dyer
{decvax,linus,ima}!bbncca!sdyer
sdyer@bbncca.ARPAmsimpson@bbncca.ARPA (Mike Simpson) (08/20/84)
***
20 August 1984.
I echo Steve's sentiments regarding being 'out at work',
and feel fortunate that I can be far more 'open' in dealings with
my co-workers than my lover can with his co-workers. (He works
in the magazine publishing industry, which has not taken many
awards for progressive thinking.)
A potential 'problem' (I'm putting it in quotes because
of uncertainty) occurs when promotions or other job changes
require relocation. I haven't quite reached the point where I
can say, "I'd like to request a transfer to location X because my
SO is getting a promotion." (This is something I may have to
work on.) Granted, this is occurring (perhaps with greater
frequency) among heterosexual couples. But it's another facet of
being 'out at work'.
Checking back in after a lengthy absence (job switch and
business-related travel), I remain
-- yours truly,
Mike Simpson
--
-- your obedient servant,
Mike Simpson, BBN
msimpson@bbn-unix (ARPA)
{decvax,ihnp4,ima,linus,wjh12}!bbncca!msimpson (Usenet)
617-497-2819 (Ma Bell)