A Facebook "friend" with whom I have gotten into many political arguments posted an interesting story entitled, "DOJ Tells Employees to Verbally Affirm Homosexuality."
"Wow!" I thought. "If it were really true that the DOJ is telling its employees to verbally affirm homosexuality, that would be kind of crazy!"
So I clicked on the news story to find out more.
(And need I even mention that this "news" story comes from Fox News?)
The first paragraph of the article goes as follows:
The Department of Justice has been accused of religious intolerance and viewpoint discrimination after workers were sent an email directing them to verbally affirm homosexuality, according to a law firm specializing in religious liberty and now representing a DOJ whistleblower.
Except, no, that's not the truth at all.
From the same article:
Liberty Counsel said DOJ employees were emailed a brochure called “LGBT Inclusion at Work: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers.” The brochure was created as a resource from DOJ Pride, an association of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees of the DOJ.
Oh! That makes more sense. A group of Department of Justice employees that serves as a sort of gay-straight alliance within the department, DOJ Proud, sent out the email. It's clearly illogical to say that the Department of Justice endorses the radical homosexual agenda of this clearly hostile group just because a group sent out the email. (I'm not sure what the "radical homosexual agenda" consists of. Rainbows? Satantic rituals? I've never been sure.)
But hold on. What does the email actually say? The DOJ wasn't the one telling its employees to "verbally affirm homosexuality," but if DOJ Proud was, that kind of crosses a line.
So the email contains a brochure that is called "LGBT Inclusion at Work: The 7 Habits of
Highly Effective Mangers." The seven habits are as follows:
1) Make the right assumptions and avoid making the wrong ones, which essentially means that you should assume that "LGBT employees and their allies are listening to what you're saying" and that you shouldn't assume that all employees are heterosexual.
2) Use inclusive language, which essentially means using terms like "partner," "significant other," and "spouse" rather than "husband and wife," which are gender specific terms.
3) Speak up when appropriate, which means not allowing derogatory comments to be made.
4) Acknowledge and engage with LGBT employees, which means that it's a good idea to ask LGBT employees about their lives. Like how their weekend was.
5) Come out, which urges employees to come out of the closet if they are comfortable doing so, or, if they are not a part of the LGBT community, to come out as an "ally."
6) Ensure that advancement, development, and mentoring opportunities are fair and effective, which means that discrimination in programs based on sexual orientation or identity is unacceptable.
7) Know how to respond if an employee comes out to you, which means that you should ask questions if an employee comes out and be positive.
But wow, I'm not actually seeing any sort of mandated affirmation of homosexuality. The entire point of the brochure is that you shouldn't let your personal feelings about the lifestyles of your employees affect how you treat or interact with them. So where was that "news" article getting its claim from? None of those strategies scream "MANDATORY AFFIRMATION OF HOMOSEXUALITY OR ELSE!!!!1!!!"
They get their out-of-context quote from Strategy #7:
Know how to respond if an employee comes out to you.
DON'T judge or remain silent. Silence will be interpreted as disapproval.
DO respond with interest and curiosity. Asking respectful questions will set a positive, supportive tone.
Aha! There it is! You HAVE to affirm homosexuality because DOJ Proud said...it's rude to say nothing and walk in the opposite direction if someone comes out to you. Outrageous! How dare an LGBT-rights organization support...basic politeness?
So, maybe the article should be rewritten, starting with the title: "A Group of DOJ Employees Who Do Not Represent Any Sort of Official Directive from the DOJ Leadership Urge DOJ Employees: Don't be Dicks."