Those who have made an impact to secure full and lasting equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) people are honored each year at Equality California’s Equality Awards with the Vanguard Leadership Award 
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This year, the leadership award was presented to G. Joyce Rowland, Sempra Energy’s senior vice president, chief human resources and administrative officer and chief ethics officer, and her spouse, Pamela Morgan.
Viewed as role models and mentors among the LGBTQ community, Rowland and Morgan are known for volunteering at events and supporting the work of many LGBTQ organizations. Moreover, in the early 2000s, Rowland testified before the California state legislature in support of expanded domestic partnership rights.
Rowland has long been a leader in developing and advancing LGBTQ-friendly workplace benefits and policies at Sempra Energy. In 1998, she spearheaded Sempra Energy’s office of diversity and inclusion, which now supports 14 local diversity and inclusion councils, an employee diversity council, ambassador modules, an annual diversity summit, an enterprise-wide diversity mentoring program and U.S. veteran assistance programs. Also, Rowland is credited for further developing and refining Sempra Energy’s culture and values.
Diversity and inclusion have been core values at Sempra Energy for decades. In fact, more recently Sempra Energy’s Chairman, President and CEO Debra L. Reed signed onto the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace, CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion .
