More than 250 corporate activists turned out for the third annual Empire State Pride Agenda luncheon honoring efforts at improving workplace conditions for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered New Yorkers. The luncheon, held June 7 at the Park Avenue headquarters of JPMorgan Chase honored Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak Company, and Kym Ward Gaffney of PricewaterhouseCoopers for their contribution to workplace fairness. Gaffney is a straight human resource professional who worked successfully with the LGBT employee group at PricewaterhouseCoopers to solve an interesting conundrum—even at a company with positive employment policies, many workers can still feel reluctant to come out and truly be themselves on the job.
Among those companies sponsoring the lunch besides Morgan and the honorees were Corcoran Group Real Estate, Debevoise & Plimpton, Polo Ralph Lauren, the United Federation of Teachers, Kenneth Cole, Lehman Brothers, Standard & Poors, Oldmstead Properties, and ABC-7, whose weatherman Sam Champion emceed.
The Pride Agenda used the occasion to roll out a new handbook, “Pride in My Workplace,” a best-practices guide for corporations, their human resource departments, and their employees on how to establish, enforce, and promote workplace policies that provide equal opportunity, equal benefits, and high employee satisfaction and performance. Copies of the handbook are available from ESPA at 212-627-0305.
gaycitynews.com
