Blind Prophecy

I’ve had a few emails from people associated with Out & Equal asking why I quit the organization. While I’d love to make the whole thing public, I’d rather be a little cautious. Upon assessing the landscape in my final 5 weeks, I determined two things:

1) You should never give a job 5 weeks notice.
2) No matter how much I was praised for my work and dedication, every member of the management team has lied to me, lied about me, or told clever half-truths to their personal advantage. Therefore, I cannot ever trust them to make a positive reference in future employment, and would sooner ask a potential employer to call my mother than risk whatever unpredictable nonsense would come from O&E’s leadership.

Based on that second realization, I decided that the bridges were already burned, so I had nothing to lose if I took my grievances directly to the O&E board of directors… the only body to whom the executive director is professionally responsible or accountable. I sent them a 4 page letter detailing my complaints about the management of the organization in specific examples and backed up by hard numbers (such as a staff turnover rate of over 100% in 2 years).

Until the board of directors has had time to meet and/or enough time has passed that I am convinced they have no intention of responding to the letter in action or promise, I’m going to remain as professional as I can in the situation. Certainly more professional that I believe the guilty parties have themselves shown based on my experiences over the last two years.

I still believe that Out & Equal has, at it’s heart, a worthwhile mission and some fantastic programs. It has lost its way on a few issues and suffers under leadership that is becoming increasingly unqualified and unwilling to address those challenges, but the Summit and the local programming planned by regional affiliates are great stimuli for LGBT workplace equality.

I appreciate those of you who have emailed me with supportive words or who have been genuinely concerned about the state of the organization and would like to hear more explicitly from me about my reasons for leaving. I continue to hope change can happen within O&E and it can reach its full potential as a national player in the queer equality movement, and if my departure does anything to prompt that change, I will be satisfied to never again speak of my disappointments with the management.

(yes, I made the poster)

Filed under: work by Jere Keys