Eliza Byard

A Revolving Door of Misery GLSEN has had at least 2 restructuring phases in the last 5 years. The latest restructuring was focused on combating white supremacy and misogyny in upper leadership. There was a promise of change in hierarchy and at some point even a possibility of a redistribution of power among the directors & managerial staff. Additionally this ?commitment? to equity included re-evaluating salaries to prevent the same oppressive systems that frequently keep People of Color, Trans folks & women underpaid. However ALL of those things turned out to be all talk. Once the 3 directors were let go in Spring 2019 for this "restructuring", ALL of the work those directors did fell on the shoulders of the most marginalized people in the organization. Staff were expected to work overtime hours and pretend it?s business as usual. Staff with disabilities & compromised immune systems were not supported & were demeaned in front of other staff for their accommodations. This disregard for staff in need of accommodations has produced significant mental & physical health harm. Raises were promised and not fulfilled. The upper management only trusts consultants, they don't actually trust their own staff. There is no HR department and little concern for the well-being of staff. Fourteen staff members have either left or have been let go in the last year. None of those positions have been filled & have been replaced by consultants(all who are white and cisgender). Entire departments of employees have quit. GLSEN doesn't know how to retain staff who are People of Color and/or Trans. They have actively hurt Black employees and never rectified the situation. To the Volunteers and GLSEN Chapter Leaders: The revolving door of GLSEN employees and the lack of preservation of institutional knowledge (knowledge that was created by People of Color) should be a serious red flag. The lack of support that you feel is the result of a directionless upper management team who has not been accountable for how they regularly treat employees as though they are disposable. You need to hold GLSEN responsible.