FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 10, 2019
CONTACT: Pablo A. Sierra-Carmona
[email protected]
GLASS Caucus Statement on Senate Democratic Diversity Initiative Survey Results
WASHINGTON – The GLASS Caucus, the official LGBTQ staff association of the United States Senate, issued the following statement on the results of the 2019 Senate Democratic Diversity Initiative Survey:
“We commend the Senate Democratic Diversity Initiative in collecting LGBTQ data on this year’s survey. Their efforts in including LGBTQ staff in their survey is a step in the right direction. We look forward to continued action towards improving the collection of this important data for all Senate offices,” said the Senate GLASS Caucus Steering Committee Co-Chairs.
On July 10, 2019, the Senate Democratic Diversity Initiative publicly released its third Democratic staff survey as of June 30, 2019. This report provides a snapshot of the racial, ethnic, and gender diversity among Senate Democratic staff.
The 2017 and 2018 survey reports, however, did not collect LGBTQ staff data. In response, the GLASS Caucus proactively reached out to the Senate Democratic Diversity Initiative urging them to include and help shape a LGBTQ-specific item in this year’s survey. GLASS is pleased to have played a role in this first step towards capturing this important data and looks forward to continued action to improving upon these efforts.
Earlier this year, the Senate GLASS Caucus Steering Committee issued a letter to all new Senate offices requesting they include in their workplace policy manuals language that protects LGBTQ employees from discrimination based on their sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. GLASS issued a similar letter in 2018 to all Senate offices.
Currently, the United States Senate, as a body, does not have any standing rules or procedures that prevent discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity—leaving the task of guaranteeing protections to individual offices and committees. The data in this report provides insight why these protections are necessary for a significant number of Senate staff.
As a non-partisan organization, the Senate GLASS Caucus is prepared to serve as a resource for all Senate offices and welcomes the opportunity to form policies that create an improved and welcoming workplace for all Senate employees.
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