minutes

Minutes
LGBT Concerns Committee
Jewish Studies Conference Room, Walker Hall
May 29, 2003, 1:00-2:30

Attendance: Kendal Broad, Charles Brown, Scott Feldman, Carlos Hernandez, Linda Lamme, Jeanna Mastrodicasa, Rich Senker, Ken Wald
Guests: Kim Emery and Kitty Fallon

Report on Meeting with Vice-Presidents Poppell and Bernard
Kitty Fallon, Kim Emery and Linda Lamme met with Vice-President Poppell and Vice-President Bernard on May 21 to talk about the President's plans for adding sexual orientation to the nondiscrimination policy and to establish partner benefits.
Nondiscrimination actions:
The President is bringing the nondiscrimination clause to the Board at the June meeting. Our group urged that the terms gender identity and expression be added to sexual orientation and VP Bernard said she would check into the legalities of using those terms and was in favor of including them.
Partner Benefits Actions
Partner Benefits are a more difficult challenge since UF is required to purchase insurance through the state and has asked the state to include partner benefits but they will not. Therefore the only way to achieve partner benefits is to purchase separate insurance just for partner benefits. Kim and Kitty researched a large number of policies and found them to be very deficient. She wrote a three-page statement of policy regarding how the issue should be handled. Basically what we want is a benefit form that asks no more of us than one would of married partners. We may have to make some compromises. Kitty produced a sample policy and a Termination Policy (both requested by Vice President Poppell. We adjusted the forms consider after looking at the City of Gainesville form that Ken was able to acquire by FAX. Many of these forms are really poor for two reasons. One is that they are legally vulnerable. The other is that they require too much information or documentation which Florida residents might understandably not be willing to provide. Linda created a priority list for all benefits and made recommendations for adding "or partner" everywhere that UF policies use the term spouse. Linda is also contacting other state universities to get contact people. Vice president Poppell asked for help in finding other state universities that might be interested in going in with UF on purchasing insurance. The Vice Presidents intend to take partner benefits to the Board in the September Meeting. The Vice Presidents suggested that when the nondiscrimination policy is adopted that we will be able to change policies internally for some benefits (like Gator 1 cards, etc.) In July 2004 UF "gets its own checkbook" and will be able to do more on its own.

Report on Meeting with the Provost for Annual Report
Linda reported that the Provost believes the Ombudsman (person?) from the Senate will be the key person for faculty reporting of LGBT Concerns. Provost Colburn wants sexual orientation added to the sexual harassment workshops that are under Joe Glover. If Dr. Glover contacts me to help design the training, I need volunteers to help me. Let me know if you are willing. The Provost also is redesigning minority affairs and when Jacqueline Hart retires, they will no longer be by culture but in one central office. Deborah King will be in this new position.

Married Student Housing
Rich reported that work is underway to make married student housing available to same-sex couples.

Transgender FAQ
Kendal distributed a thorough guide with website and personnel resources for Transgender people. We agreed that it would be wonderful if this resource could be posted on our LGBT Concerns Committee website. He will check in to this. She will put two books on the topic on reserve in Library West under her name.

UFAA Charges of Discrimination
We discussed whether it would be a good idea to invite Foley to a meeting this summer and offer our services to help make the Athletic Association better able to work with LGBT students. We might invite the two counselors from the Counseling Center who are assigned to work with athletes, at the same time. We decided to postpone this meeting until after the non-discrimination policy is passed, and perhaps until the fall.

Next year's Committee
This year Berta Hernandez-Truyol, Jeanna Mastrodicasa, and Amanda Wolfe are due to rotate off the committee. It is very important that we invite them to stay and encourage others to request our committee - people who will be willing to work hard and attend meetings as next year looks like a pivotal one for new directions at UF. Please encourage folks you know who are activist oriented to join up. We also need someone who can work with the web people so that, if possible, our website could include our minutes and other important information.

Good-bye to Rich Senker
Charles made a certificate of appreciation for Rich Senker and we gave him a card to wish him well in his move to Tampa.

Party Time
If the nondiscrimination policy is amended in the June meeting (and maybe even if it doesn't) we are planning a huge celebration (potluck?). Stay tuned.