So everyone stays in their own ghettos? re 1. How a coworker feels about working with you should be irrelevant in a professional context, so long as he acts appropriately toward you. And being required to work with an openly gay man might well change how he feels about it, sooner or later. re 2: Unless the LAS lets it's workers bring their entire political party/church/nation of origin along with them to work (which would make for some mighty crowded ambulances)--you would be working with an individual, not a group. Treat him as such. Tolerance cuts both ways.