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The
www.ebar.com
Since 1971, the newspaper of record for the San Francisco Bay Area LGBTQ community
Vol. 47 • No. 18 • May 4-10, 2017
Tech sector Changes come to St. Mary’s HIV clinic hostile to LGBT workers, T says study by Seth Hemmelgarn
by Sari Staver
P
eople who identify as LGBT are more likely than other underrepresented groups to leave jobs in technology because they experienced bullying and hostility. Sari Staver That was one Kapor Center for of the conclusions Social Justice Co-Chair of a new first-of- Freada Kapor Klein its-kind national study analyzing the reasons why people voluntarily left their tech sector jobs. Sponsored by the Oakland-based Kapor Center for Social Justice, the “Tech Leavers Study,” released April 27, surveyed a representative sample of more than 2,000 U.S. adults who have left a job in a technology-related industry or function within the last three years. “People may think of Silicon Valley as a generally progressive place, but unexamined bigotry can still be pervasive,” study lead author Allison Scott, Ph.D., the chief research officer at the Kapor Center, told the Bay Area Reporter in an emailed reply. “The fact that LGBTQ tech employees report workplace bullying and humiliation at these rates confirms and quantifies the ugly anecdotes that we’ve been hearing.” The study found that bullying and hostility affected all groups, but LGBTQ employees were affected most acutely, with 25 percent citing “rude and condescending behavior” and 24 percent saying they were publicly humiliated or embarrassed. For LGBTQ employees, being bullied was the strongest predictor of quitting due to unfairness, with 64 percent telling the researchers the experience contributed to their decision to leave their jobs. The 27-page study found that workplace culture drives turnover, significantly affecting the retention of underrepresented groups and costing the industry more than $16 billion a year. “Bullying and harassing LGBT people at work isn’t just wrong – it’s bad for business,” stated Selisse Berry, founder and CEO of Out and Equal Workplace Advocates, in response to the study’s findings. “The Tech Leavers Study proves what our country’s largest corporations already know, that creating an inclusive culture allows companies to attract top talent, innovate, and makes our entire economy stronger.” Overall, the study found that nearly 40 percent of employees surveyed indicated that unfairness or mistreatment played a major See page 13 >>
he HIV clinic at San Francisco’s St. Mary’s Hospital is seeing some changes as several staff members depart. At least one patient of the HIV clinic within the hospital’s Sister Mary Philippa Outpatient Health Clinic, located at 2235 Hayes Street in the Haight, has raised questions about its future operations due to the staffing changes. Yet hospital spokespeople insist it will remain open and treat patients. In an April 26 Facebook post, local gay event promoter Marc Huestis, who’s living with HIV, said, “Yesterday was a SAD day. The HIV Clinic at St. Mary’s where I get my primary care is now closing. … I have been a patient there since 1992. During that scary plague period finding this clinic, after finishing an AZT trail, was a godsend.” Huestis claimed that the clinic has diminished over time as its funding was often in doubt. “I have had several doctors, all excellent, and in its heyday the office was filled with HIV folks from all strata of society who benefited from the services. In the last several years as it became clear that the funding for the clinic was constantly in jeopardy, the offices became a shell of what they once were,” he wrote. “It became harder for the facility to function as is, and my doctor made the decision to retire.”
Rick Gerharter
The staffing at the HIV clinic at San Francisco’s St. Mary’s Hospital will change later this month.
Despite Huestis’ concerns, though, hospital spokespeople said the clinic isn’t closing. In response to the Bay Area Reporter’s emailed questions, Felicity Simmons, a spokeswoman for Dignity Health, which runs St. Mary’s, said patients could continue to be seen at the clinic despite two of the clinic’s physicians planned retirements at the end of May. “HIV patients at the clinic will be seen by physicians who are senior medical residents,
supervised by a physician specializing in internal medicine,” Simmons told the B.A.R. In a phone interview, Huestis, 62, said he first heard about what was happening “about two months” ago when his doctor called him to tell him she was leaving. He said he’s “always loved St. Mary’s,” but the general medicine practice there “is not my cup of tea.” See page 14 >>
Pride center reaches out to Stockton area youth
by Seth Hemmelgarn
O
n a recent Friday afternoon, a group of teenagers sat around a table at the San Joaquin Pride Center in downtown Stockton discussing where they were going to college, ideas for social activities at the center, and drag. Listening to a group of LGBT youth,
some of whom are still in their mid-teens, confidently discussing their sexuality and their futures may seem unlikely to happen in Stockton, a city with around 300,000 people that’s about two hours east of San Francisco in California’s Central Valley. The region is best known for agriculture, and LGBTs in the region are scattered. Blair Eversley, 21, who’s gay and grew up
in Stockton, experienced bullying in high school and abuse at home. Speaking to the Bay Area Reporter earlier in the day, he said it was “really, really hard for me to come out,” but when he was introduced to the center, people shared their coming out stories with him and made him comfortable. Nicholas Hatten, the center’s executive See page 13 >> Seth Hemmelgarn
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