Badpuppy Gay Today

Wednesday, 23 April 1997

With only 40 members at its founding four years ago, Atlanta's Gay and Lesbian business association, The Atlanta Executive Network, now boasts 1,110 members, making an economic gay presence a living reality in this southern capital city.

About one fourth of the network's members are CEO's, mostly in small or medium sized companies. At the time the network was founded, according to Allen O. Jones, a founder and chairman, only 20% of its membership was willing to come out of the closet, allowing their names to be used in public discourse. Now, however, 85% of the AEN membership is willing to be publicly identified. This, say some Atlanta activists, indicates that the south's gay and lesbian communities are growing not only in strength but in self-confidence as out and proud same-sex affectionados.

AEN does not take political positions, though local politicians do not neglect to make the organization a stop on their campaign trails. The network's membership is not limited to gay men and lesbians, and, according to its officers, approximately 10% of the AEN membership is heterosexually-inclined.

One of the network's principal services is educating area businesses about the need for workplace diversity training. Georgia's Insurance Commissioner, John Oxendine, a primitive-values promoter in southern politics, has ruled that insurance companies operating in Georgia must not offer coverage to domestic partners. If health benefits and the like are to be given to gay and lesbian couples, Georgia companies must be prepared to finance such insurance programs themselves. A growing number do, including Emory University and Hewlett-Packard.

Only approximately 11 percent of AEN's membership is composed of women. Dixon Taylor, a co-chair of the organization, says that its been difficult to get women involved, though this has nothing to do with membership requirements. AEN is working to increase female participation.

The group's monthly meetings attract up to 500 members, making many more comfortable with being public about their sexual orientations, as a result. "Our members," said founder Jones, tend to open up their own businesses because of the tendency of employment discrimination." At meetings, he believes, members' self-esteem undergo transformations for the better. "Being gay is only a part of one's personality," Jones told The Atlanta Journal and Constitution.

Though such an organization may be touted as threatening by anti-gay propagandists, the AEN's leaders emphasize that there's nothing to fear. Their goal is to help create a society where business becomes sensitized to the needs of employees so that productivity can rise. "It's good for the bottom line," explains founder Jones.