The modern gay (LGBT) movement was born around the same time I was. Growing up, the struggle for equality was a part of my environment. Over time, I became aware of my own otherness and of the ways that who I inherently was disqualified me from the same rights and privileges as my peers. I began to understand why it was important to speak up against discrimination and to refuse to be silenced.

Looking back at how much the LGBT community has achieved, and how much more must be done, I am reminded of a time when things were very different, and how my personal dedication to change prompted a global company to redefine equality.

Back in the 80s, the gay community on the coasts had been liberated to some extent by the sweat and sacrifice of LGBT rights advocates in the late 60s into the 70s. And in 1981 when the AIDS epidemic began, the struggle for civil rights and legal protections intensified. Gay neighborhoods like San Franciscos Castro District and New Yorks Greenwich Village experienced an eruption of community centers, advocacy groups and support services.

But it wasnt like that in Cincinnati, where I lived. Americas Heartland was fiercely heterosexual.

Dont get me wrong; Cincinnati had gay bars. (There are always gay bars!) And we had a Pride parade. But if you were a queer professional, even something like going to Pride was risky. God forbid you were seen and then outed, harassed and probably ultimately fired, just for being your whole self.

At the time, I was out in the growing but still very small gay community. I even produced a local gay radio show called Alternating Currents under my full name, no less! When it came to my job at Procter & Gamble, though, I had to hide who I was. Being gay was an absolute career-ender.

One Saturday, June 7, 1986, I went to Pride. If you have been to a Pride event, you know that theyre generally festive affairs, to say the least. I was in a celebratory mood myself when I kissed a well-known University of Cincinnati professor, Dr. Bob McNee, in Fountain Square. As fate would have it, that moment was filmed by a local news crew. The footage aired over and over for days.

By Monday, I was out to my coworkers.

Some people quietly expressed support and caution in the same breath. Others were somewhat less supportive. For a whole year, people posted cartoons deriding gays and boldly sent me hateful screeds. It made me even more painfully aware that I wasnt seen as equal, and that just getting people to acknowledge the need for equal protections took an exhausting amount of education. It was uncomfortable, infuriating, terrifying, humiliating, frustrating and depressing all at once. (Thank goodness for the gay bar and friends.)

It wasnt as though P&G itself was hostile, even if some employees were. There were nondiscrimination policies protecting people of different ages, races and religions; they just didnt explicitly protect gay employees. Companies in general simply didnt understand the serious and far-reaching impacts of inequality on LGBT workers. So in 1987, I decided to do something.