The Swoosh

The swoosh did a great thing in hiring Colin Kaepernick for their spokesperson but how are they with trans people? Well there is a report they are not good with a trans employee.

Transgender software engineer says Nike tolerated harassment, hostile workplace
The Oregonian/OregonLive
By Mike Rogoway
September 26, 2018

A transgender software engineer working as a Nike contractor filed a complaint this week with state labor officials, alleging the company tolerated abuse and harassment by other contractors.

Jazz Lyles identifies as "transmasculine/nonbinary," according to the complaint filed Tuesday with Oregon's Bureau of Labor and Industries. That describes a person assigned the female gender at birth who identifies with masculinity, but not with either of the binary genders - male or female.

Lyles uses "they" and "them" as singular gender pronouns, just like "he" or "she." Gender neutral pronouns are common in the transgender and nonbinary communities.

According to Tuesday's complaint, first reported by Willamette Week, some of Lyles' colleagues at Nike refused to use gender-neutral pronouns. One, according to the suit, said "I'm really not sure what to call you. I know I'm not supposed to call you 'she-male.'

We have heard this over and over… we didn’t fire the person we laid them off because of lack of work and then they hire someone doing the same work but with a different job title.

The supervisor said a "hiring freeze" prevented Nike from hiring Lyles, according to the complaint, which alleges Nike hired other contractors on a permanent basis around the same time. The real reason Lyles wasn't hired, the complaint alleges, was "due to my gender, gender identity, complaints of harassment, and good faith reports of violations of state and federal law."

Oregon has a non-discrimination law that covers gender identity/expression.

Inside Nike's purge: More than a #MeToo moment
The Oregonian/OregonLive
By Jeff Manning
Posted July 07, 2018

The threats, she remembers, came via text, email, telephone and face to face.
Paige Azavedo’s job in the digital marketing department at Nike put her in daily contact with Danny Tawiah, a demanding and mercurial boss who she said routinely browbeat employees, sometimes to tears.

“You better get it together or you’re gone,” Azavedo said he told her in a room full of co-workers.

Azavedo finally quit in 2015 after getting a job offer with a Seattle technology company. She didn’t want to leave Portland and uproot her family. “But he’d given me no choice,” she said.

She moved on, and Tawiah moved up. Within two years, he was promoted to vice president.
[…]
But then came 2018, a year like no other in Nike’s history. The company cut ties with Tawiah and 10 other senior managers amid complaints about a “boys' club” culture. Behind one of the world’s biggest brands, behind the beautiful campus and the glamorous athletes, an ugliness was sapping morale and driving talented employees, particularly women, out the door. A survey started circulating that aimed to quantify what some saw as the prevalence of gender bias and sexual harassment.

Well it also seems that their bias also includes gender identity/expression.

“If they were really serious, there would be more than 11 (ousted executives),” said one former manager, who did not want to be identified because her current employer does some work for Nike. “With Trevor, they have cut the head off the snake. But there are … other snakes.”

It appears like one of the company snakes attacked again.

How many times have we seen these supper tech companies that were started by young aggressive males discriminate against women and gays, lesbians, trans, and queer people. It seems like it is a common trait among start-ups.

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Today I am driving back from the Cape to attend a house concert with Namoli Brennet. I am big fan of her; the first time I heard her was at Fantasia Fair here in Provincetown back around 2005.

I took this photo last night at sunset. It is a composite of three sets of three photos taken at different exposures combined for a panorama.