Jennie Brooks, host of the Unstoppable Together podcast, chats with Melody Stachour, Director of Pride Programs of Booz Allen’s LGBTQIA+ business resource group, GLOBE+. This Pride month they discuss the proliferation of anti-LGBT legislation and policy sweeping the nation and the role of allies and corporations in continuing the fight for LGBTQIA+ equality.
Jennie Brooks:
Welcome to Booz Allen Hamilton's Unstoppable Together Podcast, a series of stories that unite us and empower each of us to change the world. I'm Jennie Brooks with Booz Allen Hamilton, and I'm passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion. Please join me in conversation with a diverse group of thought leaders to explore what makes them and all of us unstoppable.
Hello everyone. And welcome to the Unstoppable Together Podcast. I'm your host, Jennie Brooks. And to kick off this year's Pride Month we reached out to Booz Allen's GLOBE+ BRG, our firm's LGBTQIA+ business resource group, to discuss the over 300 anti LGBT bills sweeping the United States over the past two years. Please join me in welcoming to the podcast Melody Stachour, the director of Pride Programs for GLOBE+, Booz Allen's LGBTQIA+ business resource group. Melody, welcome to the podcast.
Melody Stachour:
Thanks, Jennie. I'm super glad to be here.
Jennie Brooks:
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your role as director of Pride Programs for Booz Allen.
Melody Stachour:
Yeah. I am a woman of trans experience here at Booz Allen. I've been here for nine years now. Transitioned actually on the job here at Booz Allen just a few years ago. And in my role as the BRG leader, I really oversee all of the things that we do with relationship to Pride Month and LGBTQ History Month, as we both show our pride outside the firm, and as we try to encourage LGBTQIA+ individuals to come join the firm. Because we are a small but mighty group, and we love having queer family come and join us.
Jennie Brooks:
Yes. Can you tell me a little bit about your journey and transitioning as relates to the workforce environment?
Melody Stachour:
Yeah, for sure. One of the things that made me really excited when I started thinking about, it's time to transition, it's time to come out, was Booz Allen actually already had developed a guide for how to make a workplace transition work. Granted, it wasn't the greatest guide, but it was a guide. And that to me said Booz Allen has already started thinking about this. That to me made a great deal of difference, because if Booz Allen was already thinking about this before they knew who was going to need it or what was going to really be needed, that meant that when it came time, we could develop a plan in conjunction with what was already there. That really took all of my needs into account.
And so the big key for me, and I think for my whole team, was making a plan in advance with my HR rep so that we knew how things were going to go the day of, the day before. For me, we had a learning session with the rest of my team so that everybody knew what was going to happen. They could see that we had support from higher ups. In fact, the vice president for my business unit came out to help chair that learning session, just as a way of helping to show the firm was supporting me in my journey and wanted me to bring my whole self to work, and was excited to have me continue the Booz Allen journey.
Jennie Brooks:
Thank you for sharing. As you are navigating your personal experience as an employee, tell us a little bit about what's happening across the country. And also, can you give us a general overview of the landscape of the legislation that's been unfolding for the past couple of years in particular?
Melody Stachour:
When I joined Booz Allen nine years ago we were in a period whereby LGBTQ rights were moving forward, they were gaining steam. Access was starting to be a thing. And we had several politicians start to realize, no, we really should be looking at codifying rights for queer folks in a meaningful way and not just in a demonstrative way. And then we had the Edith Windsor case and we had the Obergefell versus Hodges case, both of which were able to bring some recognition to improved rights for queer folks at the federal level. And six years ago, during Pride Month, we had the announcement that we were going to have open service in the military for transgender military members for the very first time.
And that kind of in many ways was the last big event in that sequence of making forward progress. And then we had a change in administration, and you started to see slowly and quietly executive actions rolling things back. Rights that we thought we had crystallized were being walked back slowly. We had the reimposed ban on transgender military service. And you had all sorts of bills going through state legislatures across the country, whether you were starting to talk about how do we deal with questions of marriage, how do we deal with equal opportunity employment, how do we deal with the questions of people like me using the restroom in public. And so those sorts of questions started to gain steam.
A couple years ago we did have a fairly solid Supreme Court victory, in that the Supreme Court did actually put down a decision that said LGBTQ folks were protected in the workplace under the statute that says you're protected on the basis of sex. But that was really the only major court victory that we had since the Obergefell versus Hodges case. And really what we've seen on the legislative front is that things are being walked backwards.
Couple years ago you might see 40 bills in state legislatures being introduced ,and maybe one or two get through or even get serious play in Committee and on the floor of their Houses. This year we've had 240 bills introduced in the various state legislatures, 240. Already four states have had them signed into law and there are more coming. It's kind of terrifying to see things that we thought we had made progress on not just being walked back, but actually legislators finding ways to harm us through the use of the law.
Jennie Brooks:
Yeah, let's talk about the impact.
Melody Stachour:
Yeah.
Melody Stachour:
For sure. This year most of the bills that have made it through legislatures are in one way or another anti-trans. You also, in addition, have the very notable Don't Say Gay bill in Florida, and the impact is twofold. Number one, it creates an environment whereby it's not acceptable to be queer in public. While the bill only, by its language says, you can't talk about your orientation in grades kindergarten through three, you already see school districts telling teachers, "Hey Mrs. so and so you, can't talk about what you and your wife did this weekend in class," even though they're a high school teacher.
And so it's creating an environment where people don't feel safe to be out in public. It's creating an environment where people are losing access to role models. It's creating an environment that's hostile to queer people. And the reason that's important. More just than people's sense of self, is that a person who doesn't see themself, doesn't want to live there. If we, as a company, have business in a state like Florida with the Don't Say Gay bill, a state like Texas that's investigating parents for child abuse for the simple act of affirming what their child tells them, you have now created a situation whereby very smart talent is going to say, "I can't live here. I can't work here, because it's not safe for me and it's not safe for my family.?
Jennie Brooks:
It really reeks havoc. No matter what the words on the page of the legislation are, it reeks havoc. It's got ripples across-
Melody Stachour:
It has so many ripples across so many places.
Jennie Brooks:
Tell us a little bit about how the employee resource groups for the employee base, like GLOBE+, how do they advocate and influence change and support our employees?
Melody Stachour:
We really fulfill two sets of functions. The first is as a gathering space for people who are like us. Whether it's an LGBTQIA+ resource group like GLOBE, whether it's the Global Women's Business Resource Group for women across the firm, or any of our other business resource groups, we're a gathering place of people like us who just want to take a moment and take a deep breath and be amongst family. That's one role that we fulfill the function of.
The other role that we fulfill the function of is that we, as business resource group leaders, provide feedback to our senior champions, to our DEI group, to our senior leadership, all the way up to and including our CEO, when the times come around. And yes, some of it has to get bubbled up in the way that other things would be. And so being a resource group, we have the ability to identify when new best practices are starting to take shape and start to promulgate them, so that we can continue to be inclusive for all of our employees.
Jennie Brooks:
That's awesome. For those listening who are allies and they're watching the legislation with the rest of us, what are some of the things they might be able to do to help tackle the systems of inequity in the LGBTQIA+ community? What are some of the things that you might recommend they consider?
Melody Stachour:
Let's talk about one-to-one things and then we'll get bigger as we go. Wat can you do to be an active ally? You can check in on your colleagues and friends that you happen to know to be queer. It's a tough time as you see legislation and executive actions literally targeting us, rolling across the country. And so just knowing that people are out there checking on us, it's amazing how helpful it is to know that we're not going it alone. Pride, it's June.
Jennie Brooks:
Yes.
Melody Stachour:
Let's remember, Pride started out as an act of protest. Pride commemorates the Stonewall riots, where the queer community in New York finally said enough is enough. And I won't say burned it to the ground, but went out and put its foot down because it was past enough is enough, it was too much.
Remember that we're talking about resisting things that are attacking us. We're also talking about being visible. One of the things about the Don't Say Gay law in Florida is that it's trying to keep people from being visible. It's trying to take role models away from people. It's trying to keep people from finding their identities. And so during Pride Month, remember, one of the things that we're trying to do is be visible. Show that we are active and engaged members of society. And quite honestly, we think society would be lesser for us not being in it. We think that we are of value and have something to contribute, and we're going to make sure that you can't forget that we're here. And that's a big part of what Pride is.
One other thing that you can do, look for mutual-aid opportunities. I've mentioned several states have passed laws, there are many others that are on the books. There are also states, and this is exciting, there are also states that have introduced safe haven laws into their legislative chambers, whereby someone trying to move to their state to escape these terrible laws would be protected by the state and its government. And so some families have the ability to move easily, some families don't. Look for mutual-aid opportunities.
The other mutual-aid that's always out there is the number of trans folks that are looking for mutual-aid to help them get their gender affirming medical care. Booz Allen has health plans that include gender affirming medical care, not every company has done so for those who are working. And not every queer person is able to find good, solid, steady work that has a health plan available to them. And so finding ways to throw those 20 bucks, feels like pennies sometimes, in when you're looking at, "How much is this going to cost me? Oh, good gracious. How much is this going to cost me?" But the 20 bucks, 100 bucks if you can throw it that way, it goes a long way towards helping someone be able to afford some of the more expensive affirming care that's out there.
These are, like I say, just a few thoughts, a few concrete examples, there are many more. And don't ever feel like you can't reach out to the business resource group and say, "Hey, I was wondering if such and such an opportunity is available, or if such and such is the right thing to be doing." Because more likely than not, we'll be able to either find you that opportunity, whether with Booz Allen or with an external organization, or if you're asking, "Is this the right sort of thing to be doing," we can help you understand why it is or why it isn't. And that's a good thing too, because keeping yourself positively educated is critical.
Jennie Brooks:
At the end of every podcast we give our guests some free space for final words with our audience. What would you like to send us off with today?
Melody Stachour:
This is a journey, it's a long and a never-ending journey. And it's a journey towards a set of ideals. It's not a journey towards a set of policies and it's not a journey towards a set of rules and laws, it's a journey towards a set of ideals. I think the ideals of this country are the direction we ought to be going. I'm not convinced that we've gotten there yet, but I think that the framework that we have can get us a good portion of the way there.
I know there are lots of people who have been convinced that their vote and their voice doesn't matter. I am here to tell you, we have recent history showing that it does. It takes time, it takes organizing, it takes effort, it takes energy. Nothing happens overnight. And to those who feel like they went out to vote the last time and nothing has happened, I would encourage you to realize that our system is the way it is. It's some cases it's designed to be slow, and in some cases it's slow because people have exploited design flaws, but that's the way our system is. And the only way to continue moving forward is to continue to vote and to continue to push for people who meet those ideals.
How you vote really is the expression of your values. And being affirming to our queer colleagues, our queer friends, our queer family, is one of our values. And Booz Allen says, "We want to empower people to change the world." Well, I'm starting by empowering you to know what your values are because of how you express them, so that you can take stock of, are you going in the direction that meets the ideals that you want to meet? As for me, I'll continue to vote for people that support my continued existence, my continued military service, and continued ability to have a home and a family here in Virginia.
Jennie Brooks:
Thank you, Melody. Thanks for listening. Visit careers.boozallen.com to learn how you can be unstoppable with Booz Allen. Be the future. Work with us, the world can't wait.