2007 Out & Equal Workplace Awards

About the 2007 Outies

The Out & Equal Workplace Awards (commonly referred to as "The Outies") honor individuals and organizations that are leaders in advancing equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees in America’s workplaces. Through these awards, Out & Equal provides the business and LGBT communities with examples of innovative approaches and proven successes to help create safe and equitable workplaces. The awards are presented annually at the Out & Equal Workplace Summit, the nation’s preeminent conference addressing LGBT issues in the workplace.

The 2007 Summit took place September 27-29 in Washington, D.C. The awards ceremony was held Friday evening, September 28 and was hosted by celebrity emcee Kate Clinton during the Awards Gala Dinner. The Summit and awards ceremony was held at the Hilton Washington.

Out & Equal presented six awards; three awards recognize individuals and three recognize organizations.

Comedian Kate Clinton returns for the third year as the emcee of the Out & Equal Gala Awards Dinner.

Award Winners

Trailblazer Award

This award recognizes an LGBT person who has made a significant contribution to advancing workplace equality. This individual’s activities will have made a marked improvement in their own workplace and/or have contributed to equality nationally.

Dr. Judy D. Lively, MD
Dr. Lively is the Physician-in-Chief for the Diablo Service Area, Kaiser Permanente, Northern California where she made a gender transition on the job and has been a champion for diversity in the workplace since.

Other Finalistst included...

BJ Kamigaki, Quality Engineering Section Manager, Hewlett-Packard Company
Jennifer F. Martin, Ph.D., Employee Relations Manager, Best Buy
Kathleen P. Marvel, Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer, Chubb & Son
Nicole C. (Nikki) Raeburn, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of San Francisco

Out & Equal board member Janet Smith presents the Trailblazer award to Dr. Judy M. Lively of Kaiser Permanente. Photo by Rick Reinhard.

Champion Award

This award recognizes a non-LGBT person who has played a pivotal role in championing equal treatment of LGBT employees on the job. This individual will have shown a unique commitment to LGBT workplace rights and will have used his or her talents to further that cause, even at some risk.

Ana Duarte McCarthy
Ana Duarte McCarthy has been Citi's Chief Diversity Officer since 2002 and the chief ally to Citi's LGBT community for over 10 years. She led the efforts that resulted in domestic partners benefits, the creation of employee resource groups, adding gender identity and expression to Citi's nondiscrimination policy, securing Citi's endorsement of the Domestic Partner Benefit Tax Equity Act and ENDA, and more.

Other Finalistst included...

Julia-Brim Edwards, State and Public Affairs Director, Nike
Margaret (Peggy) Moore, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, PepsiCo
Mark Bertolini, Executive Vice President - Regional Businesses, Aetna

Ana Duarte McCarthy accepts the Champion award. Photo by Rick Reinhard.

LGBT Workplace Equality Pioneer

Created in 2007, this special award recognizes a long-time activist whose contributions to LGBT workplace equality helped shape the movement.

Dr. Franklin E. Kameny
Frank Kameny is a longtime gay activist. After being fired and then barred from federal employment in the 50s, he fought to get his job back for several years. Kameny and a friend established the Washington, D.C. branch of the Mattachine Society in 1961 and in 1971, he ran as an out gay man to be D.C.'s non-voting delegate to Congress.

Gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny is honored with a special achievement award, the LGBT Workplace Pioneer award, presented by congressman Barney Frank. Photo by Rick Reinhard

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Employee Resource Group of the Year

This award recognizes a particular employee resource group, sometimes referred to as a business group or network, that has a proven track record of success in advocating for LGBT equal rights in its own workplace.

Nike's GLBT & Friends Network
Nike's GLBT & Friends Network has driven positive change for LGBT employees at Nike through several key strategies and initiatives. They have partnered with Nike's Government Affairs in active public support of two Oregon LGBT-supportive bills resulting in the passage and signature of both. They delivered an awareness building program for National Coming Out Day including WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes, out executives, and out executive allies telling their stories. They also co-developed the Youth Career Forum with GLSEN.

Other Finalists include...

Open Network, Credit Suisse
Gays, Lesbians, and Allies at Dow (GLAD)
Out Groups at Time Warner
Walt Disney World Pride & Disneyland Resort Pride

Members of the Nike GLBT & Friends Network accept the ERG of the Year award from Out & Equal board member Stephanie Turner (second from right). Photo by Rick Reinhard.

Significant Achievement

This award recognizes any employer that has made significant strides in the past year in advancing a fair and equitable workplace for its LGBT employees, such as: announcing domestic partner health insurance, including gender identity diversity training, or initiating a unique general advertising campaign that includes LGBT people.

Ernst & Young LLP
Ernst & Young's LGBT efforts during the past year have focused on "making it real" by engaging individuals at all levels in the organization, telling their stories, building relationships and creating opportunities for individual development and business growth.

Other Finalists include...

Raytheon
Sodexho
J.C. Penney
Paul Hastings

Out & Equal board member Amanda Simpson presents that Significant Achievement award to Ernst & Young, represented by Chris Crespo and Beth Brooke. Photo by Rick Reinhard.

Workplace Excellence

This award recognizes any employer that has an historic and ongoing commitment to pursuing and executing workplace equality for LGBT employees in their own workplace. This employer has a history of continually raising the bar of workplace equality for others to follow.

Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo recognizes that the success of the company depends on team members who feel valued, rewarded, challenged, supported and recognized. Today they have 21 PRIDE chapters nationwide, including chapters in Utah, South Dakota, Iowa, Maryland, and Idaho! Wells Fargo is proud of their long and rich history with the LGBT community dating back to the 1980s, when very few companies were paying attention. They have donated over $15 million to LGBT non-profits over the past 20 years; since 1998, all benefits extended to spouses of team members have been extended to the domestic partners of team members; Wells Fargo has scored 100% on HRC Corporate Equality Index in 2004, 2005, 2006; they have been recognized by DiversityInc as one of the 'Top 50 Companies for Diversity' for five years in a row; and received the Image in Advertising Award for 'Best Interactive/Online Campaign,' from the Commercial Closet in 2006.

Other Finalists include...

PepsiCo
Intel Corp
Kaiser Permanente

Out & Equal executive director Selisse Berry presents the Workplace Excellence award to Wells Fargo, represented by Caryl Athanasiu. Photo by Rick Reinhard.

2007 JUDGES


Katherine Acey, Astraea Foundation	Ed Baklor, Disney	Anita Broccolino, Broccolino & Associates	Deborah Dagit, Merck	Richard Florida, best selling author, Rise of the Creative Class.

Jody Huckaby, PFLAG	J. Kevin Jones, Citi	Kaplan Mobray, Deloitte	Donna Rose, IBM	Walter Schubert, GFM.com