Click here for a complete list of all books, articles (both published and unpublished), and screenplays that I have written. Many are available for free download.
- National University, 3678 Aero Court, San Diego, CA 92123
Contact at: Michael Myers, 858-309-3496
(2012 –present) — In-classroom instructor for statistics in both the nursing department and math department.
I have run a consulting service for over thirty years both in engineering and education:
- University of Vermont (2001)— Series of workshops for administration.
- Glendale Community College (2000)— Series of workshops for faculty and staff on sexual orientation.
- Rio Hondo Community College, Department of Public Services—Police Academy, Whittier, CA (1994-1997). Develop curriculum and instruct on sexual orientation as related to law enforcement.
- Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Police Advisory Task Force, Los Angeles, CA (1992-1998). Wrote 175-page curriculum and teaching package on sexual orientation (1992 revised in 1996). Curriculum used in the Los Angles Police Academy and distributed nation-wide for use by law enforcement agencies.
- Saddleback Community College District, Mission Viejo, CA (1994). Conducted a series of workshops on Sexual orientations issues in the workplace.
- Southern California Community College Consortium — Affirmative Action, Coast Community College District, Costa Mesa, CA, May 13, 1994. Conducted workshop on Sexual Orientation: The new law and its impact on the workplace.
- Education, Training, Program Development, DVD Developer, Internet Teaching Real Estate environmental issues. My courses are the only ones certified by the California Department of Real Estate for Continuing Education Units on Lead and Mold Hazards.
- Computers applications to office workers
- Diversity and sexual harassment awareness to business employees
- Ballroom dancing
- Developed Internet-based semester-long courses on LGBT issues
- Writer of many books and teaching packages on lead and mold hazards in real estate, bankruptcy, and LGBT issues. The lead and mold training packages included training videos for which I was responsible for subtitling and DVD mastering.
- 2018 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Americans at Risk won the American Book Fest best book award in the category of LGBTQ Non-Fiction.
- 2007 Institute for the Study of Human Resources for The Greenwood Encyclopedia of LGBT Issues Worldwide.
- 2001 David Cameron, Legal Research Award for Homosexuality and the law.
- Friends of Project 10, 1999 Literary Award for Sexually Stigmatized Communities.
- Southern California Lambda Medical Association, 1999 President’s Award for Sexually Stigmatized Communities.
- 1998 Lambda Literary Award, for my chapter in Overcoming heterosexism and homophobia: Strategies that work.
- Hal Call Mattachine Scholar Award 1995
- USC Robert Irving Fatt Memorial Scholarship 1992-93
- Homosexuality and Public Education (Master’s Thesis). 1991 USC School of Education. Download for Free!
- The Efficacy of Sexual Orientation Training in Law Enforcement Agencies (Doctorial Dissertation).1995 USC School of Education. Download for Free!
I always loved science and engineering. I designed and built my first cars while still a teenager. At the same time, I earned a B.S. in Physics from CSUN and later graduate work toward a M.S. in Thermodynamics Engineering (also at CSUN).
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, I worked for two aerospace companies besides my customization business.
- HITCO, Gardena, CA (1981-1985). Assumed the duties of high-temperature composite laboratory supervisor and developed many pre-production projects and R&D research. Responsible for all department reports, cost estimates, scheduling, interfacing with the customer, and manpower projections.
- Rocketdyne (Division of Rockwell International), Canoga Park, CA (1978-80). Responsible for all reports, data acquisition, and data reduction for the launching of communication satellites from Vandenberg AFB on MB3/Thor rockets. Performed on-site testing and data analysis for the Boeing Water Jet besides statistical work on the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME).
- Stewart Automotive, Sun Valley, CA (1973-1981). Design and fabrication of custom automobiles for TV and custom car circuit. Also, experimental engine design. Read more
Unfortunately, many straight people in these engineering firms disliked and discriminated against me for being gay. At Rocketdyne, I came out gay the day Los Angeles Mayor Bradley signed the first non-discrimination ordinance for the city (1979). For the next six months, my life was hell. I was the only openly gay employee out of 5,000 employees at the facility in Canoga Park. I received daily threats to my person, including threatening written notes on my desk and car windshield, a brick through the window of my house, and the vice president of personnel calling me to his office where he grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and pushed me against the walls of his office all the while his female secretary yelled religious invectives against me. My bosses yelled at me across the engineering bay, I was threatened with the loss of job and more. My job performance review went from being exemplary to being poor, and I was accused of insubordination. I found out later the legal department of Rocketdyne held meetings to determine what to do about the “gay threat.” Gay threat??? All I did was ask to put my lover on the company benefits program. That’s all. No other employee came out, nor did anyone offer support. Eventually, I was asked to falsify a monthly report for my department to the Air Force. I refused. I was not going to put my name on a report I knew to be fraudulent. Anyway, I quit the next week. I could see I was being set-up to be either fired for insubordination or fired for falsifying a military report.
In 1980, I was hired by HITCO in Gardena, California, to work in the high-temperature carbon-carbon research lab. My boss was from Harley Davidson, and we mostly talked about cars. He knew I was gay. All the people in my small division knew I was gay and asked about my lover daily. They seem to get a kick out of our openness. However, our small group of four engineers and five technicians were isolated from the rest of the company. Really, we were physically located about one mile away in a separate building with very little interaction with management. I was there for about four years. During that time, my secret clearance was being renewed. I had a secret level clearance at Rocketdyne, and it should have taken less than two months to renew. Instead, four years later, it was still pending. The head of security had never seen such a stall and asked me if I knew why it was taking so long. I suspected what was happening. It was a well-known tactic of the Department of Energy (DOE) to delay the clearance of people they deemed a “risk.” Because my secret clearance was pending, I was prevented from working on many of the projects I was hired to work on. Thus, I became a liability without anyone having to take overt action against me. Anyway, my boss was fired after a couple of years, and a new manager was brought in. He did not like gay people. He did not like me and was open about calling me names. He reported to management about my sexual orientation. The president of the corporation was heard saying that they couldn’t have “my kind” working for them. The death threats began again. After two weeks of that behavior and I knew I had to get out of there, so I quit.
Later, in 1989, the Ninth Circuit Court heard “High Tech Gays vs. the Department of Defense.” Winning the case began the process of DOE and other intelligence agencies changing policy to no longer discriminate against LGBT people. It was a big and important win for the gay community, and many details emerged from the case. It was learned the head of security of aerospace companies kept their own “personal” personnel files. Here, they kept lists of “undesirable” people without it officially showing up on the employees’ personnel file. My name was on one of the lists. That meant I was blacklisted and could no longer work in engineering. I figured that was happening, as I could not find employment in engineering after the HITCO affair. Even headhunters working for me noticed that something “odd” was happening with my applications. Thus, I had to change direction in my life. Even though I loved science and engineering and was on the board of Los Angele Gay and Lesbian Scientist (for almost 30 years), I could no longer obtain employment in the field. Angry, bigoted straight people, religious fundamentalists, and closeted self-hating gay people closed the door to science engineering to me.
Being discriminated against cost me my house, my cars, and a loss of over $3 million in income in my lifetime. However, the blocks lead me to return to college to earn my Ph.D. from USC and become a leading expert on LGBT history, politics, and culture. I have many books to my name and many new and different friends. It has been an exciting life but not financially rewarding.