DENVER, CO – Leslie Hohman of General Motors is a committed activist. She's dedicated herself to making GM a better and safer place for LGBT employees, and her extraordinary work will be celebrated later this month in Denver as a finalist for the Trailblazer Award at the Out & Equal Conference.
Hohman, an Engineering Group Manager at the GM Milford Proving Grounds who has been at GM for 29 years, is also an active volunteer at Affirmations Lesbian and Gay Community Center in Ferndale where she recently completed a three-year term on the board of directors.
"During the three years that Les Hohman was on the board we saw the financial support from GM increase substantially," said Leslie Thompson, executive director of Affirmations. "Les Hohman worked hard to facilitate General Motors' support of Affirmations. She was also on several committees and was just a very active board member."
In less than five years, Hohman took GM PLUS from a loosely organized social and support group got LGBT GM employees, and energized it into a dynamic and leading agent for the advancement of LGBT workplace issues at the world's largest automaker. She was instrumental in having GM PLUS recognized as an official employee affinity group, she directed the push to obtain domestic partnership benefits for GM (which dovetailed into the attainment of DP benefits at all of the Big Three domestic automakers), and helped to convince GM's Vehicle Sales, Service and Marketing Group to actively pursue LGBT car buyers by educating them as to the size, affluence, and influence of that market.
GM is not the only automaker that has been recognized at the Out & Equal Conference. Last year, Robert Burrell of Ford Motor Company was honored for his work as the chairperson of Ford GLOBE's Hourly Concerns Committee. In 2001, Ford's Alice McKeage was a finalist for the Trailblazer Award in recognition of her efforts as a founder of Ford GLOBE.
All of the employee groups at the Big Three automakers – GM Plus, Ford GLOBE and People of Diversity at DaimlerChrysler – have given LGBT autoworkers a face and name. They work with management, the unions and co-workers to educate, enlighten and to lessen the burden for LGBT people at work. They have also introduced the LGBT community to the corporate community, opening the doors – and the pocketbooks – of the big automakers in Detroit to benefit the local LGBT community. Sometimes formally through established corporate channels, sometimes more casually through personal work relationships, the LGBT employees at the automakers in Detroit are powerful catalysts for change.
The most visible statement of support from the Big Three came in May of this year when GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler each announced gifts of $250,000 to the Affirmations Capital Campaign. These were the largest contributions to any LGBT organization by any automaker's charitable fund, and their combined gifts brought national attention to Ferndale's center.
The automakers have also supported HIV/AIDS work in greater Detroit by sponsoring the annual Time Warp Event that benefits AIDS Partnership Michigan.
"They've been very good to APM, all three of the Big Three and Volkswagen," said Barbara Murray, executive director of APM. "Also, Lear Corporation, a major automotive supplier, has been a title sponsor of Time Warp."
APM's first contact with an automaker came through a volunteer who worked at Volkswagen.
"Volkswagen was our first break into the auto companies, because of a volunteer connection, and it just rolled from there," said Murray.
In addition to the six figure gifts to Affiramtions Capital Campaign, automotive employee groups facilitated gifts to local LGBT and HIV/AIDS groups that totaled tens of thousands of dollars last year alone. Here is a list of the local groups and events sponsored by auto manufacturers with headquarters in greater Detroit:
Ford Motor Company Fund:
Affirmations Capital Campaign
Affirmations Come Out and Laugh Event
AIDS Partnership Michigan's Time Warp Event
AIDS Walk Detroit – Steppin' Out Foundation
Hotter than July
Motor City Pride, Triangle Foundation
Triangle Foundation's Anti-Violence Project
Midwestern Volvo (a Ford Motor Company Brand)
Triangle Foundation Annual Dinner Event
General Motors Fund:
Affirmations Big Bash Event
Affirmations Capital Campaign
Affirmations General Program Support
Affirmations Ladies Golf Scramble
AIDS Partnership Michigan's Time Warp Event
WAGS Program of the Midwest AIDS Prevention Project
DaimlerChrysler Corporate Fund:
Affirmations Capital Campaign
Affirmations Youth Program Support
AIDS Partnership Michigan's Time Warp Event
Motor City Pride
Volkswagen of America Fund:
AIDS Partnership Michigan's Time Warp
For more information about Out & Equal and their conference Sept. 22-24 in Denver, go to http://www.outandequal.org.
