Managing a Diverse Workforce 101
Peace Offi cers Association has a support group call PRIDE Behind the
Badge. Other support groups include FireFLAG/EMS in New York
City, GOAL - DC: Gay Offi cers Action League, and the Gay Offi cers Ac-
tions Leagues of New York and New England. There are groups for state
employees such as Pride in Wisconsin Government; StatePride: Gay, Lesbian,
Bisexual, Transgendered and Allied Employees of the State of Texas; and
State Pride for Connecticut pubic employees.
Federal employees are protected by the Civil Service Reform Act of
1978, which prohibits job discrimination for any non - job - related issue.
In 1980, the Carter administration issued a policy statement specifi cally
including sexual orientation bias. The statute covered executive branch
offi ces and the Government Printing Offi ce, but not the General Accounting
Offi ce or intelligence agencies.
On August 4, 1995, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12968,
which forbade federal agencies from using sexual orientation as a reason
for denying security clearances to lesbians and gays. The executive order
extended coverage to private citizens working for defense contractors, en-
gineering fi rms, and high - tech industries involved with the government.
This order created the fi rst uniform standard for U.S. agencies in granting
security clearances and required federal agencies to recognize one anoth-
er ’ s security clearances. The Defense, Energy, and State Departments, the
Offi ce of Personnel Management, the U.S. Information Agency, the Fed-
eral Bureau of Investigation, the Secret Service, and the U.S. Customs Ser-
vice had already stopped using homosexuality as a reason for denying security
clearances for civilian workers. In 1998, President Clinton signed an executive
order, Further Amendment to Executive Order 11478, Equal Employment
Opportunity in the Federal Government, which ensured that all federal agen-
cies would ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation.
A general support group for gay, lesbian, or bisexual employees working
for the federal government exists, called Federal GLOBE. Other federal
departments such as the Federal Aviation Association, U.S. Department of
Energy, U.S. Department of Labor, and the National Institute of Standards
of Technology have their own GLOBE groups for their employees.
What Does It Mean to Be Transgendered?
Transgendered people are individuals of any age or sex whose appearance,
personal characteristics, or behaviors differ from stereotypes about how
men and women are “ supposed to be ” (Green, 2000, p. 1). Social scientists
