Panel discusses challenges of being gay and `out' at work

It's job search time for Penn students. So, last night at Logan Hall, the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center and Career Services together sponsored "Out in the Workplace." The program of panel discussions was geared towards students who are looking for work and are open about their sexual orientations. The program, which began in the mid-1980s and runs every other year, drew around 25 attendees. "We chose the focuses of the panels based on the professions that tend to be chosen most often by Penn students," LGBT Center Director Bob Shoenberg said. There were two separate panels -- one with lawyers and public servants and one with professors. The first speaker, Kathryn Kolbert, a public interest lawyer, spoke about many issues confronting gays and lesbians, including parenthood. "Having children as lesbians has been a fabulous experience," she said referring to her two children with co-panelist and partner Joann Hyle. Kolbert, a graduate of Temple University Law School, has dealt with women's rights litigation and is credited with helping to save the Roe v. Wade abortion decision in her arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court. Hyle, an attorney at the prestigious Philadelphia corporate firm Pepper Hamilton, discussed the openness of her current working environment. Her firm, she was eager to point out, is a "fine place for a lesbian who is also a lawyer." And panelist Kevin Vaughan, the former regional director for Health and Human Services for the Mid-Atlantic states, echoed the other speakers' thoughts about working in a comfortable setting. "I don't want to go someplace or work someplace that won't accept me for who I am," Vaughan said. Vaughan himself is embarking on a job search, since his Clinton administration position has ended. He discussed job searches from a hands-on viewpoint. Another panelist, Marc Stein, a history professor at York University in Toronto, Canada, spoke about his experiences in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a doctoral student at Penn. "When I came to Penn, I was coming out of a queer workplace," Stein said, referring to his job as an editor at a Boston magazine geared towards the gay and lesbian community. "Penn proved to be a positive workplace for me," he added. Stein discussed the "problems and horrors of the job market," after he graduated from Penn. Stein searched for a steady position for five years, enduring 25 interviews before finally landing a job with his current employer. Another panelist spoke about the difficulty she faces in teaching a class as both a lesbian and an African-American woman. "It barely feels safe to be black," Beaver College Psychology Professor Angela Gillem said. Many of those in attendance gave the session positive reviews. College senior Michael Hartwyk, for one, praised the discussion. "It was very informative." Hartwyk said. "[The organizers] made a good effort in getting different perspectives." The second part of the program continues next Wednesday, with speakers from the corporate and health care professions.

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