When Ellen Lapointe was interviewing during law school, she asked one firm a sly question about its official recruiting form. In the space for “number of openly gay attorneys,” the firm had put down N/A. “N/A,” said LaPointe, who is lesbian, “now does that mean “not applicable or not available?”
This was a big, big-city firm, and the gays question likely did apply, whether or not the gays in question were socially available. The lawyer giving the interview missed LaPointe’s point, as well as her deadpan humor. She fumbled with her notes and replied earnestly, “That’s a great question. I’ll check.”
