Subscribe to Breaking News
Loading ...Gay Pride posters defaced at Dept. of Labor
06.29.2009 1:03pm EDT
Posters celebrating Gay Pride Month hanging in 35 Department of Labor elevators were defaced or removed, prompting Labor Secretary Hilda Solis to issue a warning letter.
The New York Times reports that Solis, who helped found the House of Representative’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Caucus when she was in Congress, was outraged and wrote an email to the department.“It appears, however, that some members of the Labor Department team have a different view, as it has come to my attention that most of the posters have been continually defaced or removed,” Solis wrote. “On several occasions, even the poster frames have been torn completely off the elevator walls.”
“I do not believe these actions represent the majority of our employees, so I refuse to let this situation define us.
She said that the posters will stay up through the end of June and will continue to replaced immediately if damaged or removed.
Meanwhile in the UK? The PM’s wife will march in gay pride.
I am an employee of the NYS Department of Labor and I must say that these actions do not characterize the majority of DOL employees that I have encountered. When coming out as trans all coworkers were very respectful and managment was very respectful in the accomodations they made for me.
Sarah thanks for the good news about professionalism alive and well in the NY State Dept. of Labor. Hard to, never mind, easy to believe the silly spoilers are the norm. Not always the case.
I wonder how these same people that are doing the defacing would feel that if others defaced posters about Easter, Christmas or even Black Pride Month?
It’s easy to pick some group to focus ire on when this sort of thing happens. Keep in mind that many who work in Washington DC commute from either Maryland or Virginia (as well as from within DC) so it’s just as easy to point the finger at them as it is to decide that some other identifiable group is responsible for this sort of vandalism. However, I’d suggest that no single group has a lock on either stupidity or bigotry (even among our own community I have encountered no shortage of the spectacularly prejudiced). Jerks are jerks and homophobes are homophobes. Whatever other group they might come from is beside the point. As a federal employee myself I would expect more professional (not to mention adult) behavior from my peers but as usual, my peers never fail to disappoint me in that respect.
Does HIlda Solis know if one is involved or more than one? Or is she just using a common figure of speech without knowing for sure that more than one did this?
Is more than one person being automatically painted as “a bad apple” without known facts in mind?
Should we really expect anything different. When Obama spews the crap about DOMA, or Congress fails to pass a hate crimes law, those ignorant folks that hate us are emboldened to act against us. I work at the corporate HDQ of a fortune 500 company. During a recent Pride display, our posters were stolen.
Why doesn’t Solis threaten FIRING anyone who could be proven to have removed one of those posters? It seems like she’s saying it’s appropriate behavior on the part of the homophobes to destroy public property and remove those posters by saying all she will do is replace the posters as soon as they are found missing. What’s going on here? She seems to indicate that she simply has another ‘point of view’ on this issue. This is very bad.. Why is not a more punitive stance being takeno on her part against these people defacing public information and public property? By the way, these are the old Bushies who long since should have been fired in one massive termination. Evangelical Republicans have infested every governmental agency (since Bush) in HUGE numbers and should be terminated – one by one – until every last one of those stinking pieces of Christian shit are unemployed.
Don’t they have surveillance cameras in the elevators, as in most public buildings, hotels, etc.? Should not be hard to find the culprits.
I have no criticisms about the current federal labor department secretary. But I have big issue with Bradstreet-DLSE. She is an insult to gay’s community. She must be an ex-lesbian or lesbian for her political self-interest. How can she call herself a democrat when she knees down to the republican governor, arnie? Gay’s community also watch out of Jerry B. He only wants gay’s votes. Vote smart; vote for Mr. Newsome for Californian Governor.
how about view the surveillance camera’s and charging those involved with defacing public property.
No state has more narrow-minded , dull, homophobic hypocrites than Virginia. It was probably someone from there. It is probably the most anti-gay state. Don’t
spend your money there!