THREAD: I know I’ve spoken on here about the difficulties I had with my summer job, but now I’m unemployed & can talk about the trauma of it. This summer was truly one of the hardest of my life. The homophobia I experienced & racism from this org was unbelievable. 1/?

My first week of field work (ever, like, this is my first job out of college) consisted of training 45 minutes away from any service & staying at an unaffiliated (with my project) research unit. Everyone seemed nice but I was still cautious of being open about my sexuality. 2/?

On the last night of training, members of the research unit openly bragged about times they threatened to beat up gay people, stories of friends beating up Black people, and stated that there were “too many” Indigenous ppl around. All while using EXTREMELY degrading slurs. 3/?

When we got back into the office a few days later, I mentioned to my boss that there were comments that made me feel very unsafe and I didn’t think my sexuality should get out (she knew that I was gay). 4/?

Their response was, “Yeah, sorry, that person can be a little gruff.” They justified the racist homophobes behavior. Mind you, during my interview with my boss, I EXPLICITLY ASKED if this was a safe organization that I could freely express my identity.She said Absolutely. 5/?

From that point on, I was TERRIFIED that I would be fired if I went forward with the complaints. At this time, the federal protections for LGBT+ workers hadn’t been passed. I had nightmares for a week. I slept with a knife in my tent all summer. 6/?

I received no support from the person who advertised themselves to me as an ally. Friends who worked here for a couple years mentioned that I shouldn’t go forward until my last day of work. They were worried about what would happen to me if I spoke sooner. 7/?

It took me a month of reflecting to determine whether I wanted to stay or leave. I WANTED to leave, but didn’t want it to reflect poorly on my resume that I quit a job early. So I ended up staying. 8/?

A few weeks after, I was able to attend a mixer from @500QueerSci . having a place to exist as a queer person without fear of discrimination or violence was by one of the only thing that was able to get me through this summer. 9/?

I’m not sure that I’ll ever apply to a field job again. The risk of going through what I did is too high. I don’t feel safe camping anymore. What was once my love and mental escape has been taken away from me. 10/?

We complain that wildlife isn’t diverse enough, but cultures like this continue to run around unchecked. These are DANGEROUS places for minorities to exist. 11/?

Recently, I decided to report this incident. I was leaving soon (5 days at the time of reporting) and could just quit early if it was poorly received. I was angry this happened to me and caused me so much trauma. It took me 4 months to build up the courage to report it. 12/?

HR & my region head have received it well and have been supportive towards me in the investigation, but that doesn’t make any of what happened more okay or less traumatic. I’m angry this happened and can only hope it doesn’t happen to someone else here. 13/?

If you are an ally, when working in remote spaces, you NEED to voice your allyship. You NEED to make it clear (even if nobody is out) that you stand up for people who are discriminated against. It’ll make people like me feel so much safer. /THREAD