Parliament neither Kansas nor Oz

The latest Hill Times carries an item by freelance writer Dale Smith on efforts to create a better sense of community among LGBT staffers on Parliament Hill.

Wes Clarke, the Legislative Assistant for Ontario Liberal MP Lui Temelkovski (Oak Ridges-Markham, Ont.), was inspired by the Public Service Pride Network in launching, last March, the Hill Pride Network.

Here’s a short excerpt from the article:

“It also got started out of an understanding of the realities of working on the Hill,” Mr. Clarke says. “I’ve worked there for a long time—almost eight years off-and-on in different capacities and different areas. I’ve sort of come to understand the place, and it is a different place to work—and I mean that in a good way— sort of its own little community.”

Some of the different realities for Hill staffers as opposed to public servants are the fact that the majority of Hill staffers are not unionized, and they can be hired and fired at will—a fact which can make the Hill a stressful place to work. The uncertainty of employment between elections, Cabinet and critic shuffles, and resignations is always present. “I thought that there was a place for a network that could address those concerns and understand those concerns,” Mr. Clarke says.

It is easy to forget that regardless of how far LGBT issues have come – the latest hurdle being the government’s ultimately ill-fated motion which would have re-opened the marriage debate – the protection of employment rights, whether it be freedom from harassment or outright discrimination, is not a given in the corridors and inner-sanctums of the ideologically polarized Parliament.

It is also not beyond belief to imagine staff members of less queer-positive Parliamentarians feeling like they could not be ‘out’.

Again, from the article:

“Being gay or lesbian in the workplace poses its own challenges and its own risks. It poses challenges in the sense that you’re not sure of the reaction of your office colleagues or your boss, and it poses risks in that we don’t have any kind of protection for being hired and fired at will.”

That stress can certainly make someone uncomfortable with being who they are in the office environment. One of Mr. Clarke’s goals for the network is to provide support for colleagues in the workplace, to provide that safe place where they can discuss these issues, and meet others who have been in the same situation to get advice. It also provides a much-needed social component.

“We get people from right across the country,” Mr. Clarke says of the Hill.
“With the recent change in government we’ve had a lot of turnover on the Hill, a lot of new people coming and going, and people arrive in the city. Gays and lesbians always face the challenge of finding a sense of community and may not know where to start, and hopefully that’s another way that we’ll be able to support staffers as well.”

You go girl!