“They didn’t give me the vibe that they would be open with that,” Meyers said. “But you take small steps — I met a couple of people on campus who were open about their orientation (and) they served as mentors to me.”

Eventually, Meyers became one of the first members of MSU’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Faculty, Staff, and Graduate Student Association, or GLFSA. She spoke about her identity in classes and advocated for domestic partner benefits for employees during the mid-1990s.

From her experience as a staff member, “most people are honest, but they’re not condemning,” she said. Meyers’ conversations with members of the Board of Trustees who opposed domestic partner benefits might have been uncomfortable, but her experiences on campus overall have been positive, she said.

Now, after decades of advocacy and support, MSU is a more comfortable place to work, Myers said.
“Every time you have a good experience, it makes you more willing to be out to the next person,” she said. “It’s not a big issue at all anymore.”

Progress through time

In 1992, “Moving Forward: Lesbians and Gay Men at Michigan State University” was published. The report on the climate for gays and lesbians — bisexuals and transgender individuals were not included in initial discussions at MSU — opened the door to dialogue about discrimination on campus, said Paulette Granberry Russell, director of the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives.

From changing the university Anti-Discrimination Policy to protect members of the LBGT community to the growth of the Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender Resource Center at MSU, members of the university community have worked to make campus a welcoming place to work, Granberry Russell said.

“It can’t merely be rhetoric, it also has to be supportive policy, programs and education,” she said. “We’ve been visible in our support. I think all of those things (show) where MSU stands in the providing what I believe is a welcoming campus community.”

Still, there’s more to be done to make MSU a comfortable place for LBGT employees, said Michael Craw, assistant professor of social relations and policy and vice president of GLFSA.

“My concerns are largely with staff in places where you might expect some hostility toward people who are gay and lesbian,” he said. “I’m not aware of that being systematic, but you hear isolated stories here and there about people being harassed which are of concern.”

Providing accommodations for transgender individuals on campus — both students and employees — is something that needs to be addressed, Craw said. Educating heterosexual community members about how they can make MSU a comfortable place for LBGT individuals is another way to improve the climate on campus, he said.

GLFSA’s next steps in working with the administration to improve the climate will focus on smaller groups of people, such as transgender individuals and LBGT members of color, who feel less comfortable than others, GLFSA President Grant Littke said.

Working in the open

In the classroom, Littke, who also works as the director of Field Experience and professor for James Madison College, doesn’t make a point of telling students he’s gay.

“In my day-to-day interactions, I don’t make a point to bring it (up), except in a context that would be (relevant),” he said.

When another student told international relations junior Kristen Richter her professor — Littke — was gay, it didn’t bother her. As “one of the greatest” professors she ever has had, Richter was more focused on his dedication to teaching.

“I don’t think it matters what someone’s sexual orientation (is) for them to teach,” she said “If they have the academic capacity to instruct then they should able to, no matter what their sexual orientation is.”

Although he doesn’t focus on his sexual orientation in the classroom, Littke remains an active advocate for LBGT employee rights at MSU as president of GLFSA, he said.

When Jeff Bale, an assistant professor of second language education, first visited MSU, he made it known he was gay.

Before committing to working at the university, Bale made sure the community would accept him.

“It’s a big move when you get job in a university — you have to really be a part of the institution,” he said.

“If there had been any sort of negative vibe I’d say, ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’”

But faculty were indifferent to his sexual orientation — what mattered more was his potential as a contributor to his current department.

So Bale stayed and now serves as the GLFSA faculty liaison.

Although he doesn’t announce his sexuality to his students, he never lies about who he is. And along with several other openly gay members in the Department of Teacher Education, he is accepted for that.

“It’s not like I wear a sign on my sleeves — that’s just who I am,” Bale said.