wiseowl wrote:concurrent fork wrote:wiseowl wrote:
It's maybe 10% about "behavior in the office" and 90% about clients. Corporate clients these days are very diversity-focused; some firms even don't get hired at all if they aren't diverse enough. What if the OP is put on a matter where the client contact is gay? Awkward at the least.
Chances of this realistically mattering are low. But I think the OP is right to be concerned. Not sure how I would proceed.
I don't have a dog in this fight, but I'm a bit confused:
(1) Why does not supporting gay marriage = not supporting diversity? My understanding is that many people believe that marriage is a religious term meaning a male/female relationship. This doesn't necessarily make them "anti-gay" or homophobic.
(2) And if we say you shouldn't hire someone who has stated in the past that they don't support gay marriage, does that mean you also shouldn't hire someone who has said they don't support AA? How about abortion? I just don't think these beliefs are an appropriate basis for hiring decisions.
I really, really don't want this thread to derail. But really, #1? You're at a summer associate lunch with a gay partner or associate. You're at a client meeting or a trade show, and the contact you've just made is gay. Important: you may not know this upon first meeting them.
Would you say to that person, to their face, "ya know, I don't think you should get married. If you should happen to get sick, I don't think your partner should get to visit you in the hospital in some states. If you should die without a will, I think your long term partner should get nothing and your estate should go to your parents, who lets face it, haven't been very supportive. I'm not so sure you should get to adopt kids at all, but in case you manage to pull that off, if you should die, I think your kid should be put into foster care instead of staying with your partner - their other parent. But don't get me wrong bro, I am all for gays! Now, how much business were we gonna do today?"
One of the things you have to find out before you leave law school is no clients, no job. Whether your personal beliefs are well-founded, well-meaning, or based in religion is pretty much 100% irrelevant.
It's the saying it to their face that would be the problem, not the belief itself. I think most people have certain beliefs that would offend other people if they are expressed in certain situations, but a reasonable person wouldn't talk about that stuff at work.
For example, I'm religious (not anti-gay marriage for the record

). I have tons of friends who are atheist. I don't care if a person is an atheist. I don't even care if a person thinks people who believe in God are irrational and has written articles "refuting" my religious beliefs. So long as when I'm interacting with that person they are polite and don't go out of their way to shit on my beliefs and start inane arguments with me, we'll get along fine. Similarly, I'm not going to make a big deal about my faith and I'm not going to say that "you're going to Hell" or stupid crap like that.
So in application to OP's situation:
1. OP says his opinion has changed, that doesn't really matter. Be anti-gay marriage or homophobic if you want, just keep your opinions to yourself.
2. It sounds like everything OP wrote was reasonable and statistics based. He wasn't writing "OMG gayz are evil!!!!" he was saying that public opinion is against gay marriage, etc. People have a right to disagree about things, if what OP wrote was reasonably professional it won't matter. Since his writing is published by another group that obviously has an agenda, OP could plausibly just be a writer hired to write an article that doesn't even particularly reflect his beliefs.
3. People might not even find those articles. They will probably drop off the front page of your Google results as time goes by, especially if you continue to manage your "internet profile." Don't acknowledge them or bring attention to them. If you are hosting a website just to make a statement that your opinions have changed, don't do that. Use your website as a virtual resume or something like that. The point should be to promote yourself and push the junk you wrote down in the results, not to draw attention to it and admit that you are the person who wrote the stuff.