Louise Young, Ph.D.
Louise is a senior software engineer at Raytheon Company in Plano Texas. She has 27 years at Raytheon and holds a Master’s and Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
She was the founder of the Raytheon Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Allies (GLBTA) employee resource group and was a key player in Raytheon’s addition of both sexual orientation and gender identity and expression into the EEO policy and the adoption of domestic partner benefits.
Young has been a lesbian activist for more than 30 years, and has served in a variety of leadership roles. She began her activism at the University of Colorado in 1971 as a member of the Gay Liberation Front. She and her partner rode in President Clinton’s first inaugural parade on the float, “The Family of America,” representing GLBT Americans. She has appeared in the Dallas Morning News, The Advocate, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, New York Times, PBS and Time magazine. She is also featured in the book, Uncommon Heroes.
She has received of numerous awards for her long service to the cause of GLBT equality. Key among those was the 2002 Out and Equal Workplace Advocates’ Trailblazer Award. Active in her company’s diversity endeavors, she was recognized in 2003 by Raytheon CEO, Bill Swanson, as one of six Raytheon Diversity Heroes. The GLBT employee resource group at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson has named an award in her honor, the “Louise Young Award,” that is given annually to a Raytheon employee who has made major contributions to improving the workplace for GLBT Raytheon employees.
She is a member and former co-chair of the Human Rights Campaign’s Business Council. She is also a past member of the National Advisory Board of Out & Equal Workplace Advocates. In these roles she has had a national impact on GLBT workplace issues and strategies.
She has spoken on GLBT workplace issues in numerous professional forums including: Women In Technology Annual Technical Summits, the Wharton School of Business, the UCLA Anderson School of Business, Southwest Benefits Association Annual Conference, and the Out & Equal LGBT Workplace conference. She is also a member of the University of Colorado GLBT Advisory Board
Louise lives in Dallas, Texas with her partner of 34 years, Vivienne Armstrong. They met at the University of Colorado in 1971.