My Meeting with US Cabinet Member Labor Secretary Thomas Perez

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US Labor Secretary Thomas Perez (right) making a point in the meeting coordinated by Center for Faith-Based Partnerships Rev. Phil Tom (left)

US Labor Secretary Thomas Perez (right) making a point in the meeting coordinated by Center for Faith-Based Partnerships Rev. Phil Tom (left)


On Tuesday, September 16th, I had the special privilege of representing the North Carolina Council of Churches in a meeting of 13 American “faith leaders” with the United States Labor Secretary Thomas Perez.

The meeting, coordinated by the Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, was to discuss what the US government administration and Department of Labor are doing to protect workers and provide greater economic opportunities for all. This was my first time meeting with someone so senior level in the US government. And I also viewed the discussion through my lens of being a diversity and career management consultant.

I was extremely impressed with Secretary Perez’s heartfelt commitment to addressing poverty and increasing job opportunities in the USA. And he listened with deep intent to all the participants and demonstrated he heard all of our comments when he synthesized the key issues we discussed.

I shared that the NC Council of Churches has a long history of advocating for social justice including economic justice. My points:
• We have provided educational materials and advocacy around “living wage” since minimum wage is far below what people, especially working single parents, need to live.
• That we tie economic discussions to racial justice since it is minorities that are often the hardest hit with economic difficulties
• That given that NC has a large agricultural economic component, I detailed the various projects we have done around farm workers and immigrant rights.
I also noted that I was elected NC Council of Churches President as an out gay man, that the LGBT community often suffers economic hardship and workplace discrimination in states that do not offer legal protection, and that there are a huge number of people of faith who believe LGBT protections are the right thing to do.

Blog author Stan Kimer (background) listens as Rev Sekinah Hamlin (foreground), another NC Council of Churches former President and now with the Ecumenical Poverty Initiative, shares some points.

Blog author Stan Kimer (background) listens as Rev Sekinah Hamlin (foreground), another NC Council of Churches former President and now with the Ecumenical Poverty Initiative, shares some points.


Secretary Perez listened intently and took a lot of notes as each of the 13 faith leaders spoke. He consolidated all that he heard and offered the following summary remarks: (a few of these items are from his opening remarks too)
• It is important to provide vocation training for inmates nearing the end of their sentences, providing them a second chance and assisting them of becoming productive members of society instead of returning to prison
• We need to increasing opportunities for women, noting that the USA is the only industrialized nation in the world that does not legislate paid leave for new mothers. In addition, lack of subsidized child care for low income working mothers often force them to make hard choices.
• Need to continue to work on raising minimum wage (link to a blog by meeting attendee Rabbi Jason Kimelman-Block) to provide a living income
• Faith organizations can start “job clubs” for helpful networking and leverage the 2500 American Job Centers across the country. Some of these are even located in prison locations to assist with re-entry.
• There are grants available to faith organizations to assist with skills development, inmate re-entry programs, etc.
• One important role of faith groups are to be a voice for those with no voice and those unable to speak out
• He does understand the LGBT employment issue and supports having a national ENDA (Employment non-discrimination act.) Protection for LGBT people based upon what state they live in is not fair.
• Immigration reform has a strong impact on economic issues, and is one area that all faith groups from conservative to progressive support.

In closing, Secretary Perez asked that we do not leave the meeting as pessimists, that the facts are on our side and we can continue to work for positive progression in these issues. Civil rights is about persistence and we need to diligently persist in these areas. And he expressed deep gratitude for all our work.

In mid-October, I will write a follow on blog to discuss the unfortunate growing culture of poverty in the United States, and what business leaders can do to address it.

8 Lessons in my Journey as an Out Gay Man

A more personal blog as we near the end of LGBT Pride Month, June, 2014. See last’s month’s blog about being an ally that also includes links to half a dozen other LGBT Pride blogs.

Blog author Stan Kimer (on the left) with his partner of 23 years Rich Roark on a recent vacation in Morocco.

Blog author Stan Kimer (on the left) with his partner of 23 years Rich Roark on a recent vacation in Morocco.


In April, I was invited by our local PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) to share my life journey as an out gay man. Made up of parents, families, friends, and straight allies united with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT), PFLAG is committed to advancing equality and societal acceptance of LGBT people through its threefold mission of support, education and advocacy. PFLAG now has over 350 chapters and 200,000 members and supporters crossing multiple generations of American families in major urban centers, small cities and rural areas in all 50 states.

As I prepared my presentation, I ended up coming up with 8 key lessons to share during my almost 25 year journey as an out gay man:

1. It is great to be true to myself, and others will respect that. Life has been so much better living fully and honestly into who I really am!

2. Being super nice works a lot better than being super nasty. When my father was initially cool to the idea of me being gay and having a boyfriend, my boyfriend won him over by going over and doing my parent’s yard work after my father broke his ankle.

A later newspaper article in the Durham Herald Sun about out LGBT employees in the work place featured blog author Stan Kimer while at IBM.

A later newspaper article in the Durham Herald Sun about out LGBT employees in the work place featured blog author Stan Kimer while at IBM.


3. Sometimes the optimal time to come out simply appears. Grab it and run! I had not initially planned to publicly come out when I did, but an opportunity to participate in a newspaper story when IBM announced domestic partner benefits provided an excellent platform for me to share some of my story.

4. You never know who is watching and what good may come of it. After coming out, I spoke on a number of diversity panels at IBM as an out gay employee, not realizing that IBM’s VP of Diversity Ted Childs was listening. He liked what he heard and offered me the position of IBM’s global corporate LGBT Diversity Manager, which was the most fun job I ever had!

5. Building allies and not having a “single issue focus” is important. I served many years on the Governing Board of the North Carolina Council of Churches advocating for racial justice, education improvements, economic justice, health issues, etc., and even as an out gay man was elected President.

6. As a visible gay man in a leadership role (President of the NC Council of Churches), I knew I had the added responsibility of being a good representative of the LGBT community.

7. Take the hate with a grain of salt and chuckle at the absurdness of it all. When I was elected President of the NC Council of Churches, 98% of the publicity was positive (example – link to Associated Press story), but one over-the-top negative article asserted that my hidden agenda was to visit junior high Sunday School classes to seduce young boys. How ridiculous!

8. It’s now time to enjoy my remaining years! As I approach 60 years old, I am going to do the things I like the most and walk away from any aggravating or demeaning environments.

I really enjoyed sharing my journey and these lessons at that April PFLAG meeting, and am very open to speaking or sharing at similar venues – you can email me at [email protected]