User:Mizkortnie/Brian McNaught

Brian McNaught is a sexuality educator whose focus is lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues. He was named by The New York Times as “the godfather of gay diversity training” and is considered among the leading educators on this issue globally. He has worked with audiences in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, and Mumbai, as well as in thirty Fortune 500 companies, and in over 200 universities. He has written six books on gay issues, including On Being Gay, created seven educational DVDs, including Gay and Transgender Issues in the Workplace, and a web guide for corporate managers.

McNaught was born in Detroit, MI, in 1948. He attended Catholic schools for sixteen years and spoke to audiences about his experiences as a closeted gay Altar boy, patrol boy, Boy Scout and high school senior class president. His working premise in education on gay issues is that “ignorance is the parent of fear.” He has championed education as the only means of changing the corporate culture.

McNaught graduated from Brother Rice High School in Birmingham, MI in 1966, and with a degree in journalism from Marquette University in 1970. He was a conscientious objector to the war in Vietnam and served his alternative service at The Michigan Catholic.

Career
Brian was fired for being gay at age 26 in 1974 from his job as a reporter, weekly columnist, and occasional talk show host for the Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. He then became a syndicated columnist (“A Disturbed Peace”) in the gay press from 1975 to 1979. He is known for having debated Anita Bryant Ministries on television in 1979 immediately after her victory in the Dade County civil rights referendum.

McNaught represented gay Catholic people at the historic bicentennial “Catholic Call to Action Conference,” held in Detroit by the U.S. Conference of Bishops, advised the National Council of Churches and the United States Council of Bishops on gay youth issues, and former U.S. Surgeon general David Satcher on issues facing gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.

Brian was the first fulltime gay liaison to a mayor, serving Mayor Kevin White of Boston from 1982 to 1984, and in that position created the first city-sponsored task force on AIDS. As the Mayor’s Liaison, McNaught brought together city officials and gay community leaders to create “The Boston Project,” a first-of-its-kind blueprint for government response to gay urban issues. He also established the first fulltime position in the police department of liaison to the gay community.

McNaught’s educational videos, three of which have been aired regularly on PBS affiliates, have been used in schools, hospitals, churches, businesses, and government agencies since the 1980s. His books on gay issues have all been used as college texts, his open letter to former anti-gay spokesperson Anita Bryant appears in several anthologies, and his article “The Sad Dilemma of the Gay Catholic” won the award for best Magazine Article of the Year from the Catholic Press Association in 1976.

Brian was the first person invited to speak to the senior leaders of the National Security Agency. He also worked with senior executives at Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America - Merrill Lynch, Credit-Suisse, Citigroup, Toronto Dominion Bank, JP Morgan Chase, UBS, Chrysler, Ford, Morgan Stanley, Merck, DuPont, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, S.C. Johnson & Sons, Chubb, SONY, St. Paul Cos., AT&T, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, Lucent, Avaya, Agilent Tech., NCR, Brookhaven National Labs, Sandia Labs, Battelle, and over 200 Colleges/Universities, including Harvard, Vanderbilt, Indiana University, Holy Cross, Penn State, MIT, and UCLA.

Brian is certified as a sexuality educator by the American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, and Therapists. He writes a weekly blog, “Gay and Transgender Issues in the Workplace.” He is married to his life partner Ray Struble in Canada in 2003. Their relationship, captured in the book Are You Guys Brothers? began in 1974 in Boston.

Books
A Disturbed Peace- Selected Writings of an Irish Catholic Homosexual

On Being Gay – Thoughts on Family Faith and Love

Gay Issues in the Workplace

Now That I’m Out, What Do I Do?

“Sex Camp”

Are You Guys Brothers?

Videos
On Being Gay

Gay Issues in the Workplace

Growing Up Gay and Lesbian

Homophobia in the Workplace

Gay/Straight: Can We Talk?

Gay and Transgender Issues in the Workplace

Online Guide
A Managers Guide to Gay and Transgender Issues in the Workplace