United Airlines employees forged a new leadership and support network for the company's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community on March 4. The group, United With Pride, formed as a collective voice for diversity and positive change within a corporation recently publicized for its controversial involvement in gay and lesbian issues.

United With Pride's Executive Director, Nick W. Morse, said although the group is forming objectives regarding domestic partner benefits, the new organization's mission extends beyond merely taking an activist role in current issues facing United Airlines.

"We're also offering resources and networking opportunities through alliances with other organizations," he said. "We want to utilize the various strengths of our community to help educate our colleagues, families and friends about lesbian and gay issues. We want to foster support and communication among our membership base."

Morse said membership involvement is the mainstay of United With Pride. "If the members aren't directly connected with the actions of the group, the group loses its credibility," he said. "We set up United With Pride so that our members will remain actively involved with everything the group does."

Previous attempts to organize the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community at United Airlines have lacked member involvement, according to Morse. "We've heard from a lot of people who had lost touch with groups they held membership in," he said. "United With Pride won't make that mistake. We're in frequent contact with all our members, whether by e-mail, newsletter, phone or fax."

Morse said that when founding the group, he was concerned primarily with establishing a durable management structure. "I knew that our first task was to establish a foundation - a board of directors, a mission statement, a constitution and bylaws and to file for incorporation," he said. "After that, other tasks just fell into place; we now have an interactive web site where new members can join or contact us, our first newsletter will be distributed next month, and member meetings are slated to begin mid May."

United With Pride expects to complete the process of incorporation by May 4. The current management comprises six directors and four officers, and the group gains new members daily.

"We are positioning this group to become the main public voice for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered employees of United Airlines worldwide," Morse said. "We are off to a powerful start. We have a strong foundation of dedicated and motivated people behind this movement."

The website address for United With Pride is www.unitedpride.org. The site contains information about current events for the group, links to related organizations, and provides links to contact the board directly.