Responding to John on the Sunset Coast and ignoring guest1:49pm...

Nothing is perfect, and that goes for the stuff HR departments do, which besides the sensitivity training you describe, have gone through periods of toying with all sorts of idiotic pseudo-psych testing of potential employees. I am most familiar with two areas of employment: industrial construction trades (mostly unionized) and public childcare (government regulated to the max).

In childcare, it is extremely important to be aware of stereotyping and careless use of hurtful language, because children are involved. You cannot have people making bigoted remarks, however harmless they might seem in another environment, around young children. If a staff person in this situation, no matter how goodhearted, can't walk the walk, they need sensitivity training, IMO.

In the trades, there have been two serious outcomes that I have seen in relation to bigotry and sensitivity training. One was the attitude of a small but verbally abusive segment of the mostly male workforce when small numbers of women began to take up industrial trades. Over twenty years I've seen the opposition to women in these jobs reduced to almost nothing, and I believe the message drummed in by constant reminders from HR sensitivity trainers has been part of that, along with familiarity. Twenty years ago a man might ignore a co-worker's rants against working beside women, even though he himself did not mind - now, not so much.

The second is that it has mitigated what was once a poisonous climate of 'making fun of people' for whatever physical or mental differences they might have. I've known trades workers in the past whose daily lives were made miserable by a few 'funny' idiots they had to work with. Now, those same idiots may still have the same attitudes, and be just as 'funny' in private life, but they are no longer able to torment a fellow worker for being different in whatever way.

So, John, I'm sure you've seen people go overboard on these issues, and seen some people abuse the system for personal gain, but I think you have reason to be proud of your work: it has made a positive difference over the long haul.