LOVELAND, CO—Tommy Antonelli has worked as an electrical engineer for over 60 years. Throughout his career, he has designed complex radar and navigation systems, communications systems, and cutting-edge electrical systems for spacecraft. Colleagues will tell you that Antonelli is capable of understanding practically anything.
However, it appears Antonelli may have met his match in the form of a newly-introduced mandatory diversity and inclusion training now required by his employer, which he attended online for the first time last week.
“When we got to the gender and sexuality portion, there are just so many letters and colors, I don’t even know where to begin,” an exasperated Antonelli shared. “I’ll admit it, for the first time in my career, I’m just confused as hell.”
Antonelli is referring to the section of the training that covered the definition of each element of the initialism LGBTTQQIAAP, as well as the various colors and flags used to represent the many groups.
“I’m just so overwhelmed trying to figure out how to label everyone the right way, maybe I’ll just get back to working on the easy stuff like designing robotic guidance systems for autonomous vehicles.”
When asked whether there were any lasting takeaways from the training, Antonelli was quick to respond. “I wasn’t familiar with the term ‘lipstick lesbian’ before this training, so that’s something I think I want to understand a little better. I’m definitely going to do some more Internet research on that.”