Let us know your thoughts! We would like to know more about your experiences - including whether you enjoyed your workshops, our new extended workshops and more - at the 2009 Out & Equal Workplace Summit. Please take our survey and let us know. |
________________ Follow Us Stay up-to-date with all things 2009 Summit by following us on Twitter, and by also joining the Facebook fan page, where you can start discussions and post and view participant photos and videos. Follow us now! 
_______________ Trip Report Within the next several days, Out & Equal will be sending you a trip report with details and statistics about the 2009 Summit. _______________ Out & Equal
Board of Directors President
Kayla Shell, Dell
Vice President
Steve Sears, WGBH
Treasurer
Tom Johnson, Clorox
Secretary
Marcelo Roman, IBM
Directors
Tara Bunch, HP
Rita Lane, Apple
Eleanor Mercado,
Paul, Hastings,
Janofsky & Walker
Amanda Simpson,
Raytheon
Christine Smith,
Deloitte
Kyle Spainhour,
Motorola _______________ Staff Founding Executive Director
Selisse Berry
Deputy Director
Kevin Jones
Director of Development &
Communications
Sherrie Holmes
Director of Finance & Operations Beatriz Rincón Associate Director of Training & Professional Development
Pat Baillie Associate Director of Summit & Events
Anthony Bannon Associate Director of Career Development Resources
Julie Beach
Operations Manager
Pamela Berkowitz
Senior Manager, Development & Communications
Dave Bueché
Executive Assistant
George Cabral
Associate Director of NETWORKS!
Stephen Gould
Senior Program Associate
Morgan Falkenrath Green
Associate Director of Communications & Marketing
J. Erik Olvera
Senior Events
Associate
Dani Siragusa
Senior Corporate Accounts Associate
Luis Vera |
| 2009 Workplace Summit a HUGE success, inspiring action, dedication 
John Berry, the Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, delivers an
empowering speech during the 2009 Out & Equal Workplace Summit Closing Plenary
this afternoon. The last few days at the 2009 Out & Equal Workplace Summit have been some of the most enriching of our lives, inspiring us to take what we've learned back into our communities and workplaces to further equality.
For the first time in the LGBT Civil Rights movement, we are on the verge of making history and achieving the equal rights in the workplace that hundreds of people before us spent their lives trying to achieve.
Congress will soon consider the inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which enjoys bi-partisan support and would add sexual orientation and gender identity to existing federal employment non-discrimination laws, making it illegal to treat LGBT employees unfairly, solely on the basis of who they are.
We hope that you not only take your renewed sense of purpose back into your lives, but that you actively encourage others - friends, family and coworkers - to stand beside us as allies, and ask our federal lawmakers to protect us from discrimination by supporting ENDA.
Today you heard the empowering speech by John Berry, the highest-ranking LGBT official in President Barack Obama's administration, who gave us hope that change is indeed near.
"Under the strong leadership of President Barack Obama, we've made it clear that a fully-inclusive ENDA must be passed," said
Berry, Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. "This Administration is committed to repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act."
He continued, "I see in the faces of this audience today what I've seen in so many others this year - a determination to bring the battle home. I see you, like the soldiers of Henry V, standing like Greyhounds in the slips, straining upon the start.
We have all we need to win: we have the power of right, and the angels of virtue are on our side. We have the numbers needed and the resources required. We just need to summon the unity, courage and persistence to see this through."
The federal government is now poised to do what major corporations - 98 percent across the country - have been doing for years by protecting all employees from discrimination with equitable laws that don't only make sense, they're the right thing to do.
We want you to take your unique experiences over the 2009 Workplace Summit - whether it was a conversation you shared with a new friend, issues you explored in workshops or something you found enriching in the plenaries - back into your own lives, where you can make a difference one person, one cubicle and one workplace at time.
As John Berry said, "We are so close. We need to rekindle the fire and the passionate intensity of Stonewall. We need the persistence that animated President Lincoln in his struggle to keep our nation whole and General Grant as he pounded on the enemy's lines relentlessly until the day was won.
And as we fight, keep in mind that our struggle benefits not only ourselves, but all Americans. Each time we act to lift up an oppressed minority, each time we act against discrimination, we add a new ring of life to the American tree of liberty." |
2010 Out & Equal Workplace Summit 
Plans are already underway for the 2010 Out & Equal Workplace Summit in Los Angeles, set from Oct. 5-8, 2010.
Registration will be accepted beginning in January 2010. Check the Out & Equal website regularly for updates.
Sponsorship is available. To learn more about sponsoring, please call Director of Development & Communications Sherrie Holmes at 415-694-6508.
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2009 Summit Sponsors
Thank you!
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| Out & Equal Workplace Advocates™ is a national nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.
Out & Equal champions safe and equitable workplaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual,
and transgender (LGBT) people. The organization advocates building and
strengthening successful organizations that value all employees, customers, and
communities. See our website. |
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