In an email to The Michigan 

Daily, an IBM spokesperson 
wrote that IBM established 
history’s 
first 
corporate 

“equal 
opportunity 
policy” 

in 
1953, 
which 
prohibited 

discrimination on the basis 
of “race, color and creed.” 
However, the spokesperson 
wrote that the company did 
not specifically protect non-
cisgender 
individuals, 
like 

Conway, until 2002.

Conway told The Daily 

“she lived her life in stealth” 
after IBM. She resumed her 
research 
career 
at 
other 

technological 
companies 

under her new identity as 
a woman until she “quietly 
came out” as transgender 
by creating a website while 
working as a professor at the 
University in 1999. 

Conway could have ended 

her 
connection 
to 
IBM 

entirely. However, she said 
she felt compelled to contact 
them 
again 
around 
1999 

and gain permission to self-
publish the research she had 
done while employed by the 
company.

“I realized I had to come 

out more widely,” Conway 
said. “I was worried about 
my deadname being on their 
papers.”

Conway said IBM allowed 

her to post the documents on 
her website, but they did not 
formally express any regrets 
for firing her at the time.

Meanwhile, 
Conway’s 

website 
was 
gaining 

worldwide attention, and not 
only from fellow engineers. 
Other transgender individuals 
also began to regard her as a 
mentor.

“More 
and 
more 
trans 

people 
around 
the 
world 

were learning about my story 
because my web pages back 
then were one of the few blog 
sites that trans people around 
the world went to,” Conway 
said. “My page was translated 
by volunteer translators into 
many languages … it was part 
of the Trans Revolution.” 

Tara 
Maclachlan, 
the 

vice president of industrial 
internet of things strategy 
at Inmarsat, a technology 
company 
in 
the 
United 

Kingdom, has been virtually 
following 
Conway’s 
story 

since 2000. Maclachlan, like 
Conway, is a trans woman 
working in a STEM field, 
and she has also previously 
worked with IBM.

Maclachlan told The Daily 

she feels a deep connection 
to 
Conway 
because 
of 

their similarities. She said 
Conway’s story has inspired 
her to proudly publicize her 
own gender identity and to 
pursue happiness in her work 
and personal life.

“I think Lynn is one of my 

true role models,” Maclachlan 
said. “I don’t use that word 
lightly. I think the fact that 
she stood up for what she 
believed in before it was even 
close to being commonplace is 
such an inspiration.”

Maclachlan also had the 

chance to hear Conway speak 
at a technology conference 
in Washington D.C., a couple 
years ago. Maclachlan said 
it was empowering to see an 
openly transgender woman 
acknowledged for her work at 
a large-scale conference.

Besides 
re-asserting 
her 

place in the technological 
industry 
after 
years 
of 

invisibility, 
Conway 
has 

also shared her story with 
students at the University.

Charles Cohen, the current 

chief 
technology 
officer 

of 
the 
Cybernet 
Systems 

Corporation in Ann Arbor, 
received his Ph.D. from the 
University in 1996. Conway 
was his dissertation adviser. 

Cohen said working with 

Conway was a life-changing 
experience. Academically, he 
said Conway challenged him 
as a writer and a thinker, but 
she remains his mentor in 
everything from work to dirt 
biking.

“She dirt bikes — I bet you 

didn’t know that about her,” 
Cohen said before laughing. 
“She always lives on the edge 
of everything she does. She 
takes very calculated risks, 
but she certainly takes risks. 

If there’s no chance of failure, 
it’s boring.”

University students are still 

discovering Conway’s story 
today. LSA junior Noah Streng 
said he became fascinated 
with her story when Forbes 
first reported IBM’s apology.

“As 
a 
member 
of 
the 

LGBTQ+ community, it is 
incredibly inspiring to see 
people 
like 
Dr. 
Conway 

overcome so much adversity 
and be such a pioneer for 
social 
change, 
breaking 

barriers for LGBTQ+ people 
everywhere,” Streng said.

Throughout the next 20 

years, more IBM employees 
became 
familiar 
with 

Conway’s story via her website 
and social media presence. In 
particular, Diane Gherson, a 
senior vice president at IBM, 
wrote in an email to The Daily 
that she first heard the story 
this past summer on Conway’s 
wiki page.

“I 
was 
stunned 
and 

heartbroken,” Gherson wrote. 

Two decades after their 

last contact, IBM suddenly 
reached out to Conway again 
to invite her to headline 
a 
public 
company 
event 

on Oct. 14. At the virtual 
event, Conway was officially 
awarded the prestigious IBM 
Lifetime Achievement Award 
which 
signifies 
that 
she 

“changed the world through 
technological inventions.”

After 
celebrating 
her 

technological achievements, 

Gherson, who also hosted the 
event, personally apologized 
to Conway on behalf of the 
company half a century after 
she was fired.

“I wanted to say to you 

here today, Lynn, for that 
experience in our company 
52 years ago and all the 
hardships that followed, I am 
truly sorry,” Gherson said at 
the event.

Gherson 
went 
on 
to 

describe the changes IBM 
has made to their policies for 
LGBTQ+ 
inclusion, 
which 

includes a firm-wide health 
care plan that helps cover 
gender-affirming 
related 

care.

“I’m confident in saying … 

you would have been treated 
quite 
differently 
today,” 

Gherson said to Conway. “But 
all that doesn’t help you, Lynn 
… So, we’re here today not only 
to celebrate you as a world-
renowned innovator and IBM 
alum, but also to learn from 
you, and by doing so, create a 
more inclusive workplace and 
society.” 

Lynn joked to The Daily 

that though she was a “good 
spy” 
— 
alluding 
to 
her 

long history of hiding her 
transgender identity — she 
could not contain the visible 
emotion that came to her face 
when she heard the apology.

“It was done in such an 

obviously 
heartfelt 
and 

authentic way that, at first, 
I was kind of speechless 

because I did not expect an 
apology,” Conway said.

Ella 
Slade, 
the 
global 

LGBT+ 
leader 
at 
IBM, 

attended the Oct. 14 event. In 
an email to The Daily, Slade 
wrote that Conway’s emotion 
was shared by the LGBT+ 
employees watching.

“The IBM trans community 

look up to Lynn and are 
familiar with her story, so this 
moment was truly healing,” 
Slade wrote. “Lynn made a 
comment at one point about 
her joining this IBM event 
was like returning home, and 
it’s hard not to get choked up 
hearing that.” 

The 
apology 
may 
have 

come 52 years after the fact, 
but Conway told The Daily 
she feels this moment in time 
— and now her story — has 
become part of a revolution in 
social acceptance. For her, the 
apology has become a symbol 
of her and IBM recognizing 
their “joint humanity” and 
celebrating how far they both 
have come.

“The thing is, this story 

is not entirely about me, or 
even about IBM,” Conway 
said. “We’re the messengers. 
Our story is a lesson: you can 
never take for granted that 
you really know what you’re 
doing now and how it will 
affect the future. It’s a new 
kind of social awareness.”

Daily 
News 
Contributor 

Roni Kane can be reached at 
ronikane@umich.edu.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
Wednesday, December 2, 2020 — 3

APOLOGY
From Page 1

But her goal was always 

to return to Cambodia. After 
receiving 
her 
law 
degree 

from 
the 
University, 
Seng 

returned to her birth country. 
Eventually, 
she 
ended 
up 

working for several years at the 
Center for Social Development, 
a prominent nongovernmental 
organization in Cambodia. 

Public 
Policy 
professor 

John Ciorciari, an expert on 
international law who worked 
on memory and justice efforts 
in Cambodia, praised Seng’s 
advocacy.

“Everyone in the sector 

knows Theary,” Ciorciari said. 
“She’s a very vocal opponent 
of the government, and has 
been courageous in criticizing 
the government even during 
these last several years when 
criticizing 
the 
government 

has been a particularly risky 
proposition.”

Her fight in opposition to 

Cambodia’s government has 
required personal sacrifices. 
Seng decided to never marry 
or have children because any 
“entanglement” 
could 
put 

others at risk.

“I’ve 
always 
been 
open 

unconsciously 
to 
the 

possibility of imprisonment,” 
she said. “I don’t have a 
husband, I don’t have children 
whom they can hurt. I don’t 
have private property that they 

can rip off. So in this regard, 
I’m the most independent, I’m 
the most free person inside the 
country.”

After the summons, Seng 

chose to stay in the country 
when she could have fled to 
the U.S. or elsewhere. She said 
this is what the government 
wanted because if she left, she 
would not be able to return to 
Cambodia.

She called the summons an 

act of insecurity. 

“Why else are they coming 

after a fragile or fragile-
looking 50-year-old woman 
who walks around in heels? 
Me?” Seng asked. “I don’t 
have bodyguards. I don’t have 
security. I only have a dog.”

While activists have been 

targeted for criticizing the 
government, Seng’s status as 
a U.S. citizen makes her case 
unique. 

“I’m not unaware of the 

power of U.S. citizenship and 
I’m using that,” she said. “I will 
use whatever tools I have.”

Seng said the repression of 

activists and those critical of 
the government is a strategy to 
stifle dissent.

“They use physical tools, 

they 
use 
the 
weapons 
of 

violence,” Seng added. “We 
have our own weapons, as 
peacemakers. 
Truth 
is 
its 

own weapon. These are not 
fluffy, 
flowery 
sentiments 

— I really believe this. And 
I really believe in the power 
of solidarity among people 

who love democracy, who love 
freedom of expression.”

Typically, U.S. citizenship 

might 
have 
made 
the 

government hesitate to charge 
an 
activist, 
according 
to 

Ciorciari. 

“It’s not surprising at all that 

activists are getting hauled 
into court by this government,” 
Ciorciari said. “That is their 
strategy, that is how they 
defanged the opposition, is 
to use carrots and sticks, 
primarily 
sticks 
associated 

with 
the 
judicial 
system. 

What is a bit surprising to me 
is that Theary is Cambodian 
American. 
In 
the 
past, 
I 

would have not expected this 
government 
to 
arrest 
and 

charge 
somebody 
who 
has 

American citizenship.”

But the country’s political 

situation and relationship with 
the U.S. has changed in the 
last few years. The Cambodian 
government, which long had a 
tense relationship with the U.S. 
government, decided in 2017 to 
stop giving special treatment or 
protection to people associated 
with the U.S., Ciorciari said. 
They kicked out the National 
Democratic Institute Office in 
Cambodia and shut down The 
Cambodia Daily, an English-
language newspaper that was 
largely run by Americans. 

This 
comes 
as 
China 

asserts growing influence in 
Cambodia, lending money and a 
degree of political installation, 
Ciorciari said. The Trump 

administration’s 
“strongman 

tactics and downplaying of 
the 
human 
rights 
agenda” 

may have also been a factor in 
the government’s decision to 
move against the NDI and The 
Cambodia Daily, he said. 

After Seng decided to stay 

in the country and go to 
court, she put her chances of 
imprisonment at 90%. Now, 
with increasing attention to her 
case, which she thanks Genser 
and other friends for, she puts 
her chances of imprisonment 
at 50%.

Public awareness is, in fact, 

a key strategy for her case. 
Genser has asked the U.S. 
Ambassador to Cambodia to 
attend Seng’s trial with her and 
mobilize support from other 
foreign embassies.

“These 
trials 
are 
often 

held in secret, despite the 
requirements of international 
law to be public and open to 
the public,” he said. “By having 
diplomats from the U.S. and 
from other governments attend 
and try to make their way 
into the tribunal it becomes 
much, much harder for the 
government of Cambodia to 
have the trial be closed … 
(That) can be very, very helpful 
to establishing the arbitrary 
nature of the tension.”

Gesner 
also 
submitted 

an urgent action appeal on 
Monday to the United Nations 
Special Rapporteur on the 
situation of human rights in 
Cambodia and the UN Special 

Rapporteur on the promotion 
and protection of the right 
to freedom of opinion and 
expression.

Ciorciari 
said 
the 
trials 

of Seng and other dissidents 
should be seen through a 
political lens, instead of a 
juridical one. He urged the U.S. 
government to step in.

“If 
the 
United 
States 

government 
and 
others, 

including 
European 

governments, including non-
state actors, if they don’t 
come to the support of Theary 
and 
other 
activists 
who 

are facing these trials, the 
chances of the people on trial 
for a fair outcome are greatly 
diminished,” he said.

Ciorciari called Seng’s case 

a watershed moment and an 
opportunity for the U.S. to 
prove its commitment to human 
rights instead of engaging in a 
“race to the bottom” on rule of 
law and governance standards 
with China.

“If the U.S. government is not 

willing to stand up and voice 
support in this type of case, 
it’s hard to imagine preserving 
any credibility in the region as 
a defender of democracy and 
human rights,” he said.

Seng has already met with 

the U.S. embassy. Should she 
be imprisoned, they agreed to 
visit once a month and bring 
her toiletries. She still wanted 
to cut her hair just in case.

“I thought of the uncertainty 

of being able to shampoo 

regularly and having lice and 
scabies and all that,” Seng said. 
“So I’m prepared physically, but 
I’m also prepared mentally.”

Her background encouraged 

her to stay and fight, she said, 
despite knowing the regime 
well and what it’s capable of. 
Seng said her friends have been 
gunned down in broad daylight 
by the Hun Sen government. 

She is particularly worried 

that the current conditions of 
the government are similar 
to the conditions prior to the 
Khmer Rouge, which killed 
both her parents.

“I cannot imagine as an 

adult to have Khmer Rouge 
part two,” Seng said. “ … All the 
regional and global actors who 
were responsible to whatever 
degree for the rights of the 
Khmer Rouge are present here. 
I’m not overdramatizing this. 
It’s just stating the urgency and 
the seriousness of the matter 
and 
the 
militarization 
of 

Cambodia. China has so many 
military bases in Cambodia, 
and it’s buying up land across 
the country.”

“So everyone should pay 

attention because Cambodia is 
very fragile, it’s very durable 
and under the influence of 
China right now, that is a 
serious concern,” she said. 
“The conditions of pre-Khmer 
Rouge are here.”

Daily 
Investigative 
Editor 

Zayna Syed can be reached at 
zasyed@michigandaily.com. 

TRIAL
From Page 1

Manufacturers 
would 

typically not produce vaccines 
until it’s approved, because 
what if it’s not approved? 
So what has happened is 
that a great deal of vaccines 
have already been produced 
because the government has 
underwritten the payment for 
the doses. The other parallel 
consequence of the funding 
mechanism 
is 
that 
these 

trials are much larger than 
typically conducted, which 
is why we got the results 
so quickly. The number of 
people who are participating 
relates 
directly 
in 
terms 

of how many failures are 
going to occur. And that’s 
how they figure out when to 
do a preliminary analysis, 
because they have to see a 
certain number of cases. 
The more people who are 
in the trial, the quicker you 
see the number of cases. So 
everything has been done 
to speed the process and 
nothing has been done that 
would affect assessment of 
safety.

TMD: Can you tell me 

a little bit about what the 

timeline for rolling out the 
vaccine will likely look like?

AM: Well, the timeline 

for rolling out the vaccine 
is really less of what I 
am 
involved 
with. 
The 

committee will have a vote 
on whether we think that the 
vaccine should be approved 
on the basis of safety and 
efficacy. The FDA can either 
listen to us or not listen, but 
most of the time they do 
listen. For the Pfizer vaccine, 
we will have our meetings 
about 
that 
on 
December 

10th. On December 17th, it 
will be Moderna that will be 
discussed. The dates of these 
meetings are basically driven 
by the manufacturers. This is 
a public-private partnership 
— things are driven by the 
company submitting its data 
to FDA and that’s how the 
schedule of meetings has 
been determined. We make 
our recommendations, then 
the FDA has to officially 
approve. And this is an 
emergency use authorization, 
not regular licensure, which 
will follow at a later time. 
After 
this, 
the 
Advisory 

Committee on Immunization 
Practices will meet virtually 
and approve a policy for what 
groups should be first in line. 

And this is where Operation 
Warp Speed comes in, but 
that’s where things get to 
be a little more vague in 

terms of how things will be 
handled. 

TMD: What was different 

about this vaccine process? 
What has stayed the same 
about this process?

AM: What is different 

is the telescoping of the 
various events. We’ve gone 
through 
usual 
production 

and laboratory testing of 

vaccines. At the same time, 
it very quickly went into 
humans. Usually, you wait 
for a period of time to do 

phase one and two studies 
and then to get into big trials. 
But all this happened very 
quickly. 

A key thing to bear in mind 

is that first is the emergency 
use authorization and the 
full licensure will require 
six months of follow up. 
However, the efficacy still 
has to be demonstrated for 

folks. There’s no difference 
in 
efficacy 
requirements 

in 
the 
emergency 
use 

authorization, 
it 
just 
is 

quicker. And people should 
realize that there has been 
no compromise in efficacy. 
Efficacy is effectiveness for 
observational studies, where 
you see how the vaccines 
work in the real world. Now, 
what will happen afterward, 
is that everyone will be 
looking 
at 
effectiveness. 

The University is going to 
be involved here — we’ve 
expanded what we usually 
do with the flu to include the 
COVID-19 vaccine. So we will 
be part of a network looking 
to 
see 
how 
the 
various 

vaccines work in terms of 
prevention of disease, and 
also in terms of safety. 

TMD: Why is a vaccine 

so important to ending the 
pandemic?

AM: Well, given the fact 

that 
we 
don’t 
have 
any 

immunity to this novel virus, 
it 
can 
infect 
everybody, 

potentially. 

And therefore, we need to 

have the antibodies in the 
population so that we can 
reduce infection, illness and 
spread.

TMD: What would you 

say to anyone who might be 
hesitant about any vaccine 
that does get approved?

AM: This vaccine will 

have been approved by the 
standard mechanism. By the 
time the vaccine becomes 
available 
to 
the 
general 

population 
it 
will 
have 

standard, 
non-emergency 

approval. And the people 
who would be first in line to 
get it, with emergency-use 
authorization, are at higher 
risk of either developing 
infection or getting more sick 
... if they do get infected. So 
they will probably talk about 
the risk-benefit ratio. The 
risk is we haven’t followed 
the vaccine for as long as 
we typically do. The benefit 
is they don’t get COVID. As 
with anything that you put 
in your body, there’s always 
some degree of risk. We want 
it to be as low as possible, but 
you always have to balance 
the benefits with a small risk.

TMD: 
Any 
final 

comments? 

AM: The proceedings of 

our deliberations are open 
and they will be livestreamed 
on YouTube. 

Daily Staff Reporter Paige 

Hodder can be reached at 
phodder@umich.edu

VACCINE
From Page 1

There’s no difference in efficacy 
requirements in the emergency 

use authorization, it just is 
quicker. And people should 

realize that there has been no 

compromise in efficacy.