The mills of the steel industry remain amongst the worst places to work if you are LGBT. While other industries have made great strides, steel mills remain “a brutal place to work,” but change may be coming. A local union has declared LGBT protections a priority and will call on the wider steelworker labor movement to do the same.
Most states do not have LGBT employment non-discrimination legislation. And neither does the federal government, which is why President Barack Obama recently signed an executive order protecting LGBT federal employees and federal contractors. And as bad as discrimination can be for any LGBT employee, the situation for LGBT steel workers goes beyond the possibility of being fired at any time for their sexual orientation or gender identity. They endure on-the-job harassment, sexual assault, physical threats, even violent attacks.
Yet what governments, state and federal, have been unable or unwilling to do, steelworker unions might. Steel workers in Gary, Indiana started to take notice of the plight of their LGBT coworkers after former Indiana University Northwest scholar and lecturer Anne Balay released her book Steel Closets: Voices of Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Steelworkers. With Balay’s support and help crafting the necessary language, the Gary steel workers set about approaching their local unions in order to make LGBT protections an important part of the collectively negotiated contracts.
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