C U LT U R E
Out @ Work ing
e b n o n o i A discuss e h t n i r e openly que e workplac
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n Tuesday, April 13, the Center for Career Design and Diversity Programs & Services held a virtual event to discuss being ‘out’ as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in the workplace as part of CSU’s pride week. Director of Career Design Jovan Johnson and Diversity Programs & Services Coordinator Johnnae Roberts hosted the panel. The guest speakers for the panel were Dr. Timothy Bussey, Associate Director of Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Kenyon College in Ohio, and Ben Redding, a Columbus-based actor and producer. Johnson and Roberts asked these speakers about their experiences working while queer as well as how their work impacts the community. “You’d think that being in the theatre, it’s all been inclusive and wonderful [...] but you’d be surprised about the HR snafus that go on in a rehearsal room that probably would not exist in any other workplace in the world,” Redding said when asked about creating safe spaces. “In places where I’m managing people, I always try to make it about the work. Our personal selves always enhance the work, but I think when you make it about the work, it makes the playing field level. You expect the same thing out of everyone.” Dr. Bussey referenced a pride event that they organized, where they had to recognize that binary restroom options would not be acceptable, especially since knowing that they would be hosting nonbinary teens at the event.
"You’d think that being in the theatre, it’s all been inclusive and wonderful [...] but you’d be surprised..." 6 | The Uproar | SPRING 2021
“We had plenty of folks who were so excited - folks that didn’t even identify as nonbinary - that were thankful that we looked at the structural spaces of the festival and made sure they met the needs that everyone had,” they recalled. “We are talking about progress and not perfection, so we know we’re going to get critiques, and we want to accept them. Really use that in a way that can better inform what you’re doing not only in the moment and also in the future, too.” The speakers also addressed how to determine if a potential job space is queer friendly. In June of 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal ban on discrimination “based on sex” applies to LGBTQ+
CHRIS WALKER AND HIS HUSBAND CHARLIE WALKER
