...in the Detroit News, which provides more info about his background--the son of a Jehovah's Witness, but not one himself:
http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070409/OPINION03/704090367
Deb Price
Former reporter digs up stories of anti-gay bias
Call him the story finder.
Since graduating from Michigan State University, award-winning journalist Joel Engardio has tracked down compelling stories for ABC television's "20/20," the Los Angeles Times and his own documentary, "Knocking," which explores Jehovah Witnesses' quiet impact on everything from First Amendment rights to surgical techniques.
Engardio's path took an unexpected turn three years ago when he bumped into Matt Coles, who needed, well, someone skilled at finding gotta-listen-to stories. Coles, the top gay-rights litigator at the American Civil Liberties Union, wanted gay couples whose tales tug heartstrings.
"I was sitting in my office thinking, 'Who knows how to do this? To find gay people who've experienced the terrible consequences of being treated as legal strangers,'" Coles recalls. "I needed someone who knows how to vet people, to look for the weak points and the skeletons. That's a reporter."
Engardio turned out to be a whiz at finding perfect combinations of couples for marriage lawsuits. One Baltimore columnist raved, "If you were going to create a Noah's Ark of homosexuality, you'd pick these people -- there's a lawyer, a dentist, several ex-military men, a former police officer, an engineer, a couple of nurses."
Now Engardio's assignment is finding stories that convey the pain of anti-gay or anti-transgender job bias. The Democratic takeover of Congress means the Employment Non-Discrimination Act has a strong shot at passing.
So, the ACLU has teamed up with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Human Rights Campaign to ask victims of job discrimination to fill out surveys on their Web sites. Infuriating stories are pouring in.
Far more people have been hurt by job bias than could possibly testify on Capitol Hill, of course. So, Engardio will help pull together the most effective mix of storytellers. Others will be asked to talk to individual lawmakers and the news media before the ENDA vote.
"I really didn't know what to expect," says Engardio, who felt the sting of bias long before coming out as gay. (The son of a Jehovah's Witness, he was sent to the principal's office as a Saginaw third grader for refusing to say the Pledge of Allegiance -- years after Witnesses won the right to abstain.)
"It's been more than I would have thought. You see more problems in 'Red' states," he says. "And the true harms, the real discrimination stories, they really pop out. You can't miss them."
Take, for example, the closeted male couple who installed major appliances in a Northeast state. Co-workers figured out they were gay and complained to the boss, who fired them. Or, the gay southerner who planned to hold his commitment ceremony in the hotel where he worked. He sent out invitations; his supervisor fired him.
Today, in 33 states, including Michigan, it's perfectly legal to fire someone for being gay. Transgender firings are legal in 42 states, including Michigan. "If you build into society the notion that this discrimination is wrong, people aren't going to do it," Coles predicts.
But lawmakers need to hear why new safeguards are needed.
"You can have the greatest story in the world, but if that person isn't willing to testify in front of Congress, it's not going to make an impact," says Engardio. "Somebody has to speak up."
If you've suffered anti-gay job discrimination, turn your setback into a victory: Tell the story finder.
Reach Deb Price at or (202) 662-8736 or [email protected].