At first the story isn’t a shocking one – terrible and rage-inducing, but not shocking. A queer person is fired from their job for reasons that are never made entirely clear; since they were good at their job and nothing in the workplace had changed preceding the termination, the obvious answer seems to be homophobia. But of course there’s never going to be any way to prove that; without a secret document called Lesbians We Plan To Fire coming to light, there’s not much you can do. It’s possible to sue for discrimination, certainly, but you might end up pouring the rest of your savings into a losing court case, and then you’re unemployed AND broke.
At first, this is what Dawn Strobel’s story looks like. Strobel was fired from the Lake County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area in Indiana, and she believes it was because she’s gay. She’s filed a lawsuit against HIDTA, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Crown Point and the state of Indiana for employment discrimination, although her former employer claims she was terminated because she was refused a security clearance (which is a legitimate reason for firing someone in a government or government-contracted position). This is a thing that happens. Probably, we think, there will be a small settlement out of court, or she will lose. Both these things are still possible, or maybe even probable.
![workplace-discrimination workplace discrimination](https://www.autostraddle.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/workplace-discrimination.jpg?resize=450%2C368)
VIA SLAPUPSIDETHEHEAD.COM
The thing is, though, Dawn Strobel’s story isn’t just like every other one you’ve heard. It’s every bit as awful, but there’s also a horrible caveat:
“Dawn, we allege, became terminated because it became clear she was a lesbian, and others in the department didn’t like that …” said David Scher, Strobel’s Washington, D.C.-based attorney.
Scher said under federal laws, government employees who require security clearance can be fired if they are found to be hiding their homosexuality. In Strobel’s case, he said his office wants to defend her and create law in this area.
Did you know that? Do people know about that? It’s true that if any of your testimony in the process of getting a security clearance is found to be false, it’s grounds for termination. But Strobel maintains that she wasn’t denied a security clearance at all, and in fact still has it. And while it’s true that a certain amount of privacy is voluntarily surrendered when you take positions that require security clearances, the issue of sexual orientation is a tricky one. First and foremost, depending on your situation, disclosing your sexual orientation can actually put you in real danger; for the government to require it by threatening to withhold your job seems irresponsible at best. Furthermore, sexual orientation isn’t a black-and-white category like being married or being a citizen; “lying” about it is kind of a grey area. If you’re married to someone of the opposite sex but identify as bisexual, is that “lying?” Or more importantly, can it be construed so in the eyes of the government? Allowing the state to make rulings on your sexual identity seems like an extraordinarily slippery slope. It’s even more outrageous when you consider that, until very recently slash in a technical sense still happening right now, some government jobs like THE ENTIRE MILITARY in fact REQUIRE you to lie about your sexual orientation in order to have a job at all. How do you reconcile that? How does this make sense?
It’s unclear whether this defense is actually being leveled against Strobel; her former employer has made no comment as far as we know about why she allegedly failed to pass a security clearance. In any case, Strobel says that she was fired in 2009 after a period of sexual harassment (something that often accompanies homophobia at the workplace), and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued her a right to sue letter in 2010. This is terrible for her, because she has no job and not a lot she can do about it except hope this works/that someone listens to her/that she can find another one. It’s terrible for everyone else too, because if any part of her story is true (and it seems very possible that it is, based on the history of gay people in the job market) it means that the country we live in is crazy and weird and unhealthy for us to live in. How do we live like this? What do we do?
What do we do? Keep the EEOC, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU on speed-dial. If we suspect anyone’s fucking with us, document it and make it public!
Sadly many states, not just Indiana, offer no legal recourse or protection for gay and trans people in the workplace. Personally I think this is an even bigger issue–especially given the economy–than marriage, plus it disproportionately affects working class queers and queer people of color.
I don’t know about that, given the huge number of privileges associated with being legally married. Many of which also disproportionately affect working class queers, such as access to a spouse’s health insurance coverage. In addition, wealthier homogays can afford to hire lawyers to jury-rig some of the privileges of marriage such as the privilege to make medical decisions for an incapacitated partner. Tax-free inheritance. The list goes on and on.
But it’s not really like any civil rights issue is less than extremely important.
Im so proud of her for taking a stand for all of us, It takes the actions of one person to make a difference for us all!! Monumental!!!!
This is really shitty. I can’t offer much because I’m Australian, but for comparative purposes; In Australia, our Human Rights Commission isn’t allowed to investigate discrimination on the basis of diverse gender or sexuality. A minor political party (The Greens) have tried to introduce it but the two majors parties keep shooting it down.
Vomit. It’s funny, I live in Lake county and I haven’t heard anything about this. Granted I don’t really read the local paper much, concentrating on the two Chicago papers, but I do glance at it and not one mention of this story. I will blast the local paper if I have to get this girl some fair coverage. Fuck that.
as a person who’s dream job requires a security clearance, i am extra special disturbed by this. autostraddle can you please continue to keep us updated?
It is so disturbing to think that situations like these are still happening all around the nation. Dawn, your strength is truly admirable as you stand up for yourself and set an example for many of your peers around you. Keep it up, and we’ll help spread the word!
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