The first African American, openly lesbian woman elected to
public office in the country will be the guest speaker at the Feb.
25 Pride banquet. That announcement was one of the highlights of
the most recent meeting of the President’s Commission on LGBT
Concerns, Jan. 21 at Oxford College.
Kecia Cunningham, City of Decatur commissioner, will speak at the
banquet, which begins at 6:30 p.m. in Cox Hall. The Office of LGBT
Life will handle ticketing, which will be $5 for students and $10
for faculty/staff.
As this was the commission’s lone scheduled meeting for the
Oxford campus, several members of the Oxford community attended.
They heard a motion that would mandate at least one Oxford member
on the LGBT commission. The motion received overwhelming support.
It will be presented again next month, as stated in the bylaws,
for a vote.
The policies and procedures committee made several recommendations
for commission consideration. They included:
• asking the University Senate that an LGBT member sit on
its fringe-benefits committee.
• creating a communication link that would give the committee
an opportunity to become more involved with routine revisions to
the University’s Policies and Procedures Manual.
• encouraging the University to contract with companies that
have LGBT-supportive policies,
• sending a letter to departments asking them to remain mindful
of LGBT issues when revising policies and publications.
• investigating the possibility of creating a web-based communication
link between the commission and Emory’s LGBT community.
Chair Kathy McKee said the President’s Commission on the Status
of Minorities is seeking cosponsorship for its spring symposium,
March 3–4, “Diversity as Value-Added.” The commission
agreed to contribute.
McKee also said that a new program offering discounts for AAA membership
to Emory employees and family members originally did not include
domestic partners. When informed of this, Human Resources contacted
AAA, and domestic partners were added to the benefit.
The next LGBT meeting will be held Tuesday, Feb. 18, at 5:30 p.m.
in 400 Administration.
If you have a question for LGBT, send e-mail to Chair Kathy McKee
at kmckee@emory.edu.
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