Re: Sexual Orientation and Tech Comm

[Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- COM]

Only one comment on this:

      In my state (Washington), people who are--or who are thought to be--
      gay, lesbian, or bisexual--have no protection from discrimination in
      employment.  They can be summarily fired any day for no reason other
      than their employer deciding they are G/L/B.  These technical
      communicators have no recourse under Washington State or Federal law.
      They disagree with you that orientation has nothing to do with
      technical communication.

I'd venture to say they have the same protection accorded to left-handed
people, or people who dress in plaids, or blondes, or people who wear
mismatched socks, or people who have any of 1000 other habits that someone
else might object to (I don't mean to make this comment biased in *either*
direction, but since we're talking about getting fired I must presume it
would be something objected to) but would have no effect on job performance.

I'd even venture to say (I haven't seen the WA state lawbooks) that WA has
labor laws on the books that speak to an employer's ability to fire *anyone*
for reasons not related to job performance. (It'd be unusual if WA didn't
have these, as most other states in the union have them).

Now, since I happen to believe sexual preference, like hair color, has nothing
to do with Tech Writing, I'm off the subject.

Have fun,
Arlen

arlen -dot- p -dot- walker -at- jci -dot- com
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