Biography of an American Public Activist Elizabeth Birch - Essay Example

29 April 2012 Elizabeth Birch was born in 1956 at Wright Patterson Air Force base in Dayton, Ohio. Raised by a Canadian air force father, she went to the University of Hawaii in 1980 and graduated with a law degree at the Santa Clara University School of Law. She became an associate attorney at the Mc Cutchen, Doyle, Brown, & Enersen before becoming a world wide director for litigation for Apple Computers in 1989. She was an advocate of the lesbian and gay community and had every intention of standing by them through thick and thin. In 1992, as she narrates in her interview, Lotus Development Company had extended their services for the provision of domestic partner benefits; an initiative that she thought would highlight the company’s commitment to its employees, who she believed deserved the same. She contends that as the attorney for gay employees, she felt conflicted on whether she could stand by the gay people and still maintain professionalism as an advocate. This was because in the Apple Inc there was normal grassroots process within which employees were building cases for domestic partner benefits. The experience of this woman offers the exact case in regards to how gays were being viewed by the majority or some of the individuals in the state. This then offers an analytical basis of stating the perception and the stereotypes held at the time. Elizabeth narrates that once employees were to provide the cases for the domestic partner benefits they built their cases and sent it to the human resource department. This, she notes, was the undoing of the Apple gay and lesbian community as the human resource department came up with excuses of how not to implement such. Some of the excuses were that for the implementation of such to take place, it would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. The consequences of this were highlighted by the rejection by the Apple’s board of directors. This decision enraged Elizabeth who notes that since she was well known worldwide as the advocate for the gay and lesbian and for providing institutions and municipalities with advice regarding the implementation of sexual non-discrimination policies and domestic partner benefits, the move by the Apple board of directors was unacceptable and was in contradiction with what she believed. She notes that Apple had many gays and lesbians and such a move would mean that they were undervalued of their skills and creativity. She decided to take matters into her own hands by discussing the matter with the director, John Sculley, a bold move which she contends may have had her fired. She notes that this move was so unprecedented and unavoidable due to the fact that she could not fathom the idea of certain leaders ignoring the rights of the gay and lesbians and the fact that she could not care due to her beliefs. A meeting that was set between her and director John Sculley turned out to be the turning point of the company’s policies towards the gay and lesbian rights. She was able to convince the directors in an inspirational speech of how she came out of a gay kid, coming out of Canada. She cited reasons why she believed that Apple was a company that represented a human experiment where they try different things and build new innovative ways to do business. She then contends that equality must be attained by all employees in the company and it would send a horrible message if the company rejected such. Hers was a stand that values needed to be upheld by the company within which she represented and believed to be the most critical element. A very receptive director who took her advice and decided to implement the domestic partner benefit scheme was an indication that she had succeeded in her endeavors for this. However, this had come after a lot of convincing and showing the sense and importance of such. Soble & Power (2008) explain that stigmatization was and is still pervasive to those perceived as gay and lesbians. They cite that the era of gay and lesbians came to cultural prominence during the 1930s through the 1960s where there was the sex crime panic and the formal exclusions (of sex perverts) from all governmental services. Both gays and lesbians were noted to pose a threat to heterosexual children who they perceived were ought to be molested or seduced. They cite that gays were perceived as unable to attain adoption, foster parenting, get employment as teachers and maintain stable relationships. The 1980s is noted by Soble and Power as one that crystallized a change as people started viewing and seeing changes of successful gay and lesbians. The unfitness associated with the gay and lesbians in regards to marital affairs and the challenging of the perceptions held through empirical studies helped ease up pressure towards gays and lesbians. This analysis by Soble and Power (2008) on the philosophy of sex is an indication of what happened during the 1960s through 1980s. Ripberger echoes this by arguing that the1960s were the start of the formation of the gay rights and movements, which were labeled homophile movements. Although they were low profile they gained support from both sociologist and psychologist (Miller, 1995). The article by Ripberger (n.d.) offers the insight to the formation of the gay and lesbian movement by noting that as early as the 1950s, the gay movement was formed as the mattachine society in Los Angeles by Harry Hay. The society was first comprised of males where it had a hierarchical order within which it operated on. It was highly secretive and operated from private homes with many of its members being communist and ex-communist (Miller, 1995). The lesbian movement on the other hand is said to have started in 1952 and more concerned with motherhood and problems faced by married lesbians. The movements of both gay and lesbians were viewed differently and need for a change was ripe. This brought out the scholarly evidence through various researches done between 1960s and 1980s. The impressions that homosexuals were mentally ill was challenged by scientific study done including that by Hooker who provided platform for individuals like Simon and Gagnon to come out refuting the mentality of gay as sick. This comprehensive view of the scholars offers the perception and scholarly evidence brought out to refute claims that existed in the periods of 1960s until 1980s. Does the interview done to Elizabeth Birch hold any grounds of the times or hardship within which the gay and lesbian community faced? The answer to this is yes. This is evident in her interview as she states that the human resource department was not accommodative of the case brought forward by gays and lesbians for domestic partnership. To this extent, we can analyze the Apple Company as having two views on the agenda. One is that of a liberal view and the other a conservative one with the latter being the human resource department while the former being the director. References Miller, N. (1995). Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present. New York: Vintage. Ripberger, A. (n.d). Homophiles and the Social Scientist. Retrieved from http://sitemaker.umich.edu/lesbian.history/social_scientists_and_homophiles Soble, A., & Power, N. (2008). Philosophy of Sex: Contemporary Readings. New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Read More