PRISON BREAK

Federal Bureau Of Prisons Aims To Improve LGBT Outreach

Equality Florida tells the Miami Herald that the Federal Bureau of Prisons has extended its existing diversity policy to include LGBT outreach.

Here’s the press release, in part:

In a groundbreaking move, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) has announced that every federal prison in the U.S. will appoint an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) representative to their long-standing Affirmative Employment Program.  The BOP employs approximately 40,000 nationwide, and until now, the LGBT staff did not have a designated representative in the program.

With the addition of an LGBT representative to the BOP’s Affirmative Employment Program, each of the more than 120 BOP facilities will hold at least one event each year that will serve to educate and inform the staff about LGBT diversity issues.

The directive also requires each facility to designate one person as the LGBT Special Emphasis Program Manager, to ensure that equal opportunity issues and concerns affecting LGBT employees are adequately addressed.

Florida Equality Managing Director Brian Winfield tells Queerty that the initiative is more about education than specifically handing jobs to gay people:

“The LGBT representative does not need to be LGBT and frequently is not,” says Winfield. “While hiring LGBT employees is one aspect of increasing the workplace diversity within BOP, the representative will be responsible for helping to educate fellow employees. The BOP, along with 87% of the Fortune 500, believes diversity is a good for productivity—and for recruiting and retaining top quality employees.”

Don't forget to share:

Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...

We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?

Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated