OUT in the Patch: 40 Years of Cross-Cultural Education
Sitting across a farm kitchen table in the homes of potential oil and gas lessors, negotiating terms of an oil and gas lease I was attempting to take so my oil company client could drill a well on the farmer's property. These scenarios played out in the homes of Coloradans, Louisianians, Montanans, North Dakotans, Texans, and Washington Staters. But those are the Norman Rockwell images. Such face-to-face negotiations occurred in attorney offices, bank trust departments, and fields while sitting on lowered pickup truck tailgates, in private offices, in residential living rooms, and over restaurant meals. Lease proposals were often made by mail or express services, and negotiations were over the phone and via email. Face-to-face meetings proved the most productive and exciting. My goal was to obtain a lease with the most favorable conditions for my client while giving the landowner the respect they and their property were due. I had to work in a highly conservative environment and be successful while keeping the fact I'm gay from my client and the lessors. My concerns resembled those of gays working for the federal government post-WW II. That task occasionally failed, but I don't believe I ever "lost a lease" or a client because of it. But the fear of losing a client because of it haunted me for four decades, yet it never became an issue - that I know of.