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When Angie Harden worked at a recreational athletic facility throughout high school and college, she grew particularly close to her boss – to the extent that the woman became a mother figure to her. This all changed, however, when Angie came out her junior year of college. Not only did her boss’s tone turn cold and detached, a stunned Angie was also told explicitly that there was no space to bring her back on staff that summer. When Angie found out that her boss had caught wind that she was gay and that this was the reason she was fired, her sadness and shock turned to anger.
Angie soon called HR to report this discrimination and even threatened a lawsuit. Before long, she got a call from her boss who disingenuously apologized and offered her job back. Having no interest in working with this woman ever again, Angie rejected this offer,worked and thrived in other areas of the facility, and then chose a path of service and activism to the LGBTQIA+ community to help ensure that what happened to her doesn’t happen to others.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
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[Music]
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foreign
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my name is Angie Hardin I’m from
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Milwaukee Wisconsin when I was 15 I got
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my first job I was thrilled to have my
0:14
first job I was lucky enough to work at
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a recreational Athletic Facility in
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their child care Department my boss was
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the nicest lady on the planet we we
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formed a bond over several years of
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working there she almost became like a
0:31
mother figure to me and when I went off
0:33
to college she wanted me to stay there
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she loved me so much that she said I
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will make anything work come back on
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weekends come back on holidays
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Spring Breaks summer breaks I want you
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still working here so when I went off to
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college the first time I’ll never forget
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it she baked me a tray of cookies and
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she said we’re gonna miss you around
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here but here’s something to send you
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off with and you’ll be back and sure
1:00
enough she called me up holidays
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weekends Christmas breaks over the
1:05
summer and she said let’s get you on the
1:07
schedule so I did that my freshman year
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I did that my sophomore year and then I
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also did that partly through my junior
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year my junior year is when I decided to
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come out publicly I put my relationship
1:18
with my then girlfriend on Facebook and
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I decided to tell the world and I was
1:23
very excited about it so my junior year
1:26
was coming to a close and per usual I
1:28
called up my boss and I said hey
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Summer’s rolling around I’d love to get
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back on the schedule
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usually I was met with just great
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excitement but this time was different
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she was cold she was
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uninviting and she just said we don’t
1:45
have room for you and I said what do you
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mean what do you mean you don’t know bro
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and she just kept on repeating we don’t
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have room for you what about the
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substitution list we had this very
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rudimentary paper list taped to the
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inside of a cabinet door she said no I’m
2:01
not putting you on that list
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and again I I just couldn’t
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comprehend what was going on so after
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that the conversation really it almost
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went dark for me it’s blurry as to what
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happened after that I don’t think there
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was too much more
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I just remember getting off the phone
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and being
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so upset my girlfriend was actually in
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the room with me when this happened and
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I just I just started bawling and I I
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had lost
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and it took me a while I couldn’t
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understand it but I remember my
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girlfriend at the time saying well
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didn’t you just come out
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and I said well yeah yeah I put our
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relationship on Facebook but
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I’m not Facebook friends with my boss
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and that can’t be it I just remember
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saying that that can’t be right that
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can’t be it so she said well does anyone
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at your work no she she was convinced at
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the time you know that that was what was
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going on so she said does anybody else
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from your work no and I said yes I have
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one co-worker who I have Facebook
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friends with
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we have a great relationship
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but she might know she may have seen it
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I’m not sure
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so my girlfriend suggested giving her a
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call so I called her and I said
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you know I don’t work in our department
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anymore and I think this is what’s going
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on I think our our boss knows that I’m
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gay and she doesn’t want me to work
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there anymore but I don’t know how she
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could possibly know that
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and I’ll never forget it my co-worker
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said oh my God Ang I told her I I told
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her that you came out and I told her
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about your girlfriend because I was so
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excited for you
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and that was the moment that everything
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clicked so initially I was devastated
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hurt upset and I took a couple weeks to
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process what had happened and to and to
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decide what I wanted to do
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and over that couple weeks I shifted
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from being hurt and upset to just being
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really angry in that moment of becoming
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so angry about what had happened I
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decided to call HR and do something
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about it you know this was not right so
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I called HR I said very confidently I am
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certain that this is what has happened
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to me I have been fired for being gay
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take a look at my file take a look at my
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reviews you guys know me
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um I have been fired for no reason and
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I’m sure that it’s because I’m gay
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so either you can do something about it
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or I am very seriously considering
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filing a lawsuit two days later I
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received the phone call from my boss
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she when she called it was not the
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person that I had known for seven years
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the person who was on the other end of
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that phone was cold she was timid she
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said I’m sorry providing you I shouldn’t
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have you should come back and work
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and I said absolutely not I refuse to
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work for you and it was a very short
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phone call she said okay to be honest I
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don’t think she was even bothered by
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that I think that’s probably the answer
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that she wanted but I was so fortunate
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that I knew so many other people at this
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facility that I worked at that when
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people found out that I was open for a
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job I got phone calls left to right
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so I ended up working at a rock wall
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teaching kids rock climbing classes I
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ended up running an after-school program
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I ended up driving a school bus I ended
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up teaching kids basketball so I just it
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ended up being a great shift for me in
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what I love to do and and so I made
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lemonade out of lemons after living
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through this moment and coming out
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successful on the other end it really
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changed me it ignited a fire in me to
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try to protect
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people from going through what I went
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through it’s one of the reasons I
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decided to go to law school it’s the
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reason I decided to intern for the ACLU
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when I was in law school
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it’s part of the reason that I do pro
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bono work and community service that
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throughout my career as a lawyer now I
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do everything I can to serve the lgbtq
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community serving on boards Marching In
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the Streets protesting taking on pro
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bono work
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serving non-profit organizations so if I
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can be even if I can play just even a
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small role in helping other people avoid
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that pain
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that’s what I want to do
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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