Not Equal Yet

Recently a good friend of mine got a letter to the editor published in the Utah newspaper "The Salt Lake Tribune".   It focused on the idea that while she is protected by anti-discrimination laws in Salt Lake County, if her life were to take her elsewhere in Utah, she would not have the same right.  The laws she mentioned protect her from being fired from a job or evicted from housing solely because of her sexual orientation (as she is a lesbian).  It might surprise some of you, as it did me, that these laws are not in place country-wide.  At a job I used to have back in Oklahoma there was a large sign next to the lockers that would remind everyone that no employment decisions (such as hiring, firing, disciplinary action, promotion, pay or other work conditions) could be made based on my sex, age, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, genetic information, OR sexual identity and orientation.   I was very surprised to find that the same sign at my current place of employment in Utah, a branch of the same company, did not include the last part.

I came out to my coworkers when I started the job.  I wanted to make it known that saying things like "that's so gay" and calling each other faggot was not gonna fly with me.  It has now become a very comfortable and casual thing that my coworkers and I talk about.  I really do enjoy my work because of the people I work with.  But one day last week, someone said something referencing my being a lesbian, right to my boss.  She didn't think anything about it, because she doesn't have to.  None of them have to think about it.  It's not a reality for them.  I don't go a day without thinking about it.  I don't think my boss will actually do anything to me, but I've been on edge because he could if he really wanted to, and there are no laws to stop him.

A few years ago I had a roommate that freaked out when she found out I was gay.  She reported me to the housing office and to my landlord, hoping to get me evicted.  I lived in BYU contracted housing, and I wasn't breaking the BYU honor code just by being gay, so there was no grounds for eviction. How ironic that being a BYU student kept me safe, and not a law.

This is my reality.  I'm not considered equal yet.

~Bridey J.