Federal Prisons to Address LGBT Employees' Concerns

There will now be an LGBT rep in the diversity program at every federal prison.

Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.

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Trudy Ring

May 03 2012 9:36 PM EST

November 17 2015 5:28 AM EST

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The Federal Bureau of Prisons has agreed to add an LGBT representative to the diversity program at each of the 120 prisons it operates in the U.S.

Equality Florida, which has pushed for the move, made the announcement today. This will ensure that the concerns of LGBT employees are addressed and that each facility will have at least one event a year dealing with LGBT issues.

Equality Florida managing director Brian Winfield met a year ago with employees of the state's Coleman Federal Correctional Complex to plan the first LGBT staff event within the bureau. It was held last June for Gay Pride Month.

"I am so proud to have worked with this group of employees whose efforts impacted national policy," Winfield said in a news release. "It is only because they believed that LGBT individuals and issues needed more visibility, and because it was the right thing to do, that employees at federal prisons now have a place at the table within the Bureau of Prisons."