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Vote on Desiree Davidson's Story
Were they afraid we were planning a coup d'etat?
I spent my first summer during Columbia Law School at a firm in Philadelphia described as one of the best places in the city for black lawyers. I believed that if there was any place where I would have an equal chance at opportunities, be treated fairly and succeed, this would be it. There were three black female summer associates out of sixty that year but any time all three of us were in an office talking, one of the partners would knock on the door to see how we were doing. It happened too often to be a coincidence that sometimes we would purposely agree to meet in so-and-so's office to test our theory that we were being monitored. Like clock work, ten minutes after we would get together a partner would stop by.
Pets had more benefits than us
We found out that our company offered pet health insurance, including unusual pets like pigs, rats and snakes but they didn't offer same sex domestic partner benefits. There was a proposal to add same sex benefits and the Board recommended against it. After a long uphill battle and a national article published by the Human Resources Council about companies that offered pet benefits but not same sex benefits, our company finally offered us these benefits.