Dale Masel, Gay
Associate Professor, Industrial and Systems Engineering

INVOLVEMENTS AT OU:
Currently: Undergraduate Chair, Industrial and Systems Engineering; Advisor, Engineering Ambassadors; Previously: Advisor, Institute of Industrial Engineers. 

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO BE OUT or TO BE AN ALLY?
When I was an undergraduate student, I didn’t know any LGBT people and I didn’t feel like the LGBT community had any relevance to me.  I want the students that I deal with—gay and straight—to have a different experience and to be able to recognize that LGBT people are part of their lives.  I want LGBT students to see that they can be comfortable with themselves and that it doesn’t have to be part of their personality that they ignore or deny.  And I want straight students to learn that working with gay people isn’t any different than dealing with other straight people.

WHY ARE YOU “PROUD”? WHAT ARE YOU MOST “PROUD” OF?
I’m proud that I’ve been successful in my career and that people respect me and my work.  With my colleagues and with my students, my sexual orientation is pretty much a non-issue.  However, the accomplishmentthat I’m most proud of is in my personal life—my relationship with my partner.  We’ve been together 12 years,and we’ve accomplished a lot together. My family accepted him and welcomed him as my spouse and I’m very happy that he is part of my life.  His support enabled me to accomplish a lot of what I’ve been able to do at work.

WHAT WAS THE MOST DIFFICULT PART OF COMING OUT?
Telling my parents that I was gay was hard, but unnecessarily so.  I felt awkward talking to them about it, but they were much more comfortable with the discussion than I was.  To me, coming out to them was a huge hurdle, but the risk was just in my imagination—they made it really easy on me. 

WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHERS WHO COME OUT?
Realize that most people are going to judge you for who you are and not your sexual orientation. There will always be a handful of people who will not like you just for being gay, but the vast majority of people only care if you’re a good person and a good worker.

THOUGHTS FOR NON-LGBT PEOPLE ABOUT LGBT PEOPLE ANDCONCERNS: 
It’s OK to ask questions of a gay person the same as you would a straight person.  Don’t be afraid that you can’t ask someone about their life or their partner or their opinion on gay issues.  Acting like it’s something that can’t be discussed or shouldn’t be discussed applies a stigma to sexual orientation that it doesn’t deserve.