How To Make The Workplace More Inclusive For Trans People
The trans community is an incredibly diverse community, representing all faiths and traditions, as well as racial and ethnic backgrounds. Trans people come from all walks of life and are parents, siblings, and kids. They are our friends, neighbors, or co-workers. They are 7-year-old kids or 70 year-old-grandparents. They are more than just their gender identity.
Although trans people are increasingly visible in both popular culture and in daily life, they continue to face discrimination, stigma, and systemic inequality. In fact, about half a decade ago, only one-quarter of people in the U.S. supported trans rights, but support has increased to 62% by the year 2019. Despite this progress, research suggests that 27% of trans people have been fired, not hired, or denied a promotion due to their trans identity. There is still no comprehensive federal non-discrimination law that includes gender identity, which means trans people may still lack recourse if they face discrimination when they are seeking housing or dining in a restaurant. So how can we become active allies to help combat the discrimination that trans people continue to face?
To learn about the spectrum of what it means to be transgender in the workplace through commentary on intersectionality, underrepresentation, and allyship, I (virtually) sat down with some amazing panelists for a Consciously Unbiased LinkedIn Live conversation. We discussed some of the most common misconceptions about being transgender, how to break the bias, and steps that leaders of all levels can take to help build belonging for transgender people at work. Here are some key takeaways from our discussion.
Micro-Moments are the Start to Making Change Happen
“People stop talking when their voices are muted over and over again,” says Jes Osrow, Co-Founder and DEIBA Specialist, The Rise Journey. “There needs to be somebody who steps in and says, ‘Hey, I am coming from a place of privilege.’ By saying this, you elevate and acknowledge the person’s voice, bring them back into the conversation, and give the person credit. These are small things or micro moments when you should say, ‘Oh, Valerie spoke. I want to make sure that we elevate her voice and that we get her seen, heard, listened to.”
Leaders Need to Know that Their Decisions’ Impact Other People
“Choices do affect other people,” says Valerie Paris, CS Support Manager, Mention. “Deciding not to stand up for somebody in the workplace when I see discrimination as a leader, and not setting a good example affects the other person. Oftentimes I think it is left to people of color, trans people, any marginalized group to be the ones who are asked the questions and to be the ones who have to do a lot of the work. What does it mean for the people who don’t check some of those boxes? Maybe they should be doing the work and maybe that is really where most of the work needs to happen.”
“Beingness” Should Not Have to be a Movement
“The concept or the notion of “beingness” should not have to be a movement,” says Mich R. Huff, Esq., Attorney at Law. “We all feel. If you hurt me, I hurt. If I hurt you, you hurt. Movements are the very essence of what causes the progress to occur. I don’t mind waging a war. But, with that being said, if we don’t have to fight; we can learn just to meet each other. Maybe we are not all going to get along and maybe we are never going to all love each other, but if I can do my best to not hurt you on purpose no matter how I was presenting in the world and no matter what color I am, no matter what my pronouns are, no matter any label that you would like to put on me. I’d like to not hurt you and I’d like to be able to count on the same for me.”
Nobody Should Be Forced to Live Stealth
“I think that living stealth as a trans person should be looked at on a case-by-case basis, based on safety purposes,” says Corey Rae, Activist, Actress & Model. “On a grander scheme, I don’t think that we should have to feel that we can’t be safe everywhere so we can’t be our true, authentic selves. On the other hand, I understand that people think, ‘This isn’t everything about me. Why do I have to tell you everything about me all the time?’ Don’t live in stealth if it’s only going to do you harm internally, but also save yourself if it’s going to cause you harm externally/ physically and you can’t be safe in that environment. I hope that we get to a place where people can feel comfortable being their true selves in the workforce, in their place of worship, or in their hometown. We should be able to be our authentic selves and live that out loud and be proud of ourselves.”
Being an Active Ally Means Constantly Raising Your Voice
“Being an ally is a verb,” says Osrow. “It’s an active thing. You can’t be a passive ally. Ask your HR folks and your leaders: ‘What trans policies do we have? Do we have policies and PR benefits that support trans folks? Are we making sure that we are documenting their voices in our engagement surveys so we can see if we are treating people fairly? Do we have trainings that supports management, not just trans folks, but everybody?’ If you are going to be an ally in this capacity, you have to ask and constantly raise your voice so the folks that are trans don’t have to, because they shouldn’t have to. Keep asking questions until change is made.”
Leaders Need to Implement Actual Policy Change
“I would really love to see companies commit to a zero tolerance policy for harassment and discrimination against LGBTQ people,” says Paris. “You can go to LinkedIn Lives to educate yourself, but if you don’t have something on the books, if you don’t have the teeth to back that up, you are really just kidding yourself. At the end of the day, it starts with having actual policy change and having the actual ability to say, ‘If I see harassment happening, we’re not going to tolerate it against trans people or against any marginalized group.’”
Be a Point of Contact and Take Action in Response
“Being a point of contact is important, whether you are an ally or whether you are being an ally standing in the actual community,” says Huff. “More than just an open door policy, but actually being the person who will receive information and who will listen is important. And if you are in a position where you can take that up the chain of command or if you are actually the person in power, you need to take active steps to actually do something about it.”
Trans People Have a Special Power
“We are human beings like everybody else,” says Rae. “We all have things that make us different. Trans people are here to really show what’s up, tell people what it is like to dig deep to do the hard work on themselves, and figure out who trans people are. People don’t understand the power of trans people and I for so long asked, ‘Why did I have to be born trans? Oh my God, why me?’ But, being trans is my superpower. I am different from everybody else for a reason. We are going to show people what it means to have some sort of knowledge of ourselves and culture. We are going to prove to people that all of these boundaries, constructs and boxes from all these years don’t matter and don’t make any sense. We are also going to show that as we continue to stay strong with each other that we are also going to bring strong, active allies. I hope that the cis world is ready to open up, because they need to.”
Intersectionality of Gender Identity and Race
“Nothing else compares to the severity of the discrimination that I have received presenting as a Black man,” says Huff. “I have experienced everything from job opportunities to having my voice muted. It is painful and a lot of times, I don’t like to internalize that so maybe I’ll gloss over it. It’s from the grocery store, to the courtroom, to the boardroom, to corporate America, wherever I go I’m very sensitive to the energy that’s being put out in different environments. The darkest realization for me as a Black woman was that I was expected to be aggressive or abrasive. But now that I’m presenting as a Black man, I am received in a different way. I’m expected to be quieter and accept whatever voice and all of them apparently are more important than mine in a room. This does require me to shift gears in a way and move in each environment in a very different way to which I’m hypersensitive to now.”
Non-Binary People Don’t Need to Show Up or Present a Certain Way
“There is a big misconception that non-binary people have to look a certain way and be a certain way,” says Rae. “Non binary people don’t need to show up or present in a certain way for anybody. Sometimes we don’t know what we are going to present as and that is okay. I think there is a big pedestal that people put non-binary people on. People could have a beard and nail polish or jewelry and a buzz cut. We don’t all look the same so don’t put that on us.”
As a society, we continue to try to define everybody even when we are saying, ‘Let’s start seeing people for who they are.’ The truth is that we are all human, and whether you are cis-gender, transgender, gay, or straight, we all have feelings and we all get impacted by how people treat each other. I always say to overcome bias, it’s a struggle between curiosity and fear of the unknown. If you let curiosity win and expose yourself to people that you think are different from you. You will find that we have a lot more in common than different. Having these conversations and exposing ourselves to people that are different from us is the first step. Our panelists also suggested: asking your leaders about trans policies your organization has, actively listening, and doing your research. The Golden Rule was “do unto others as you’d like done unto yourself. The Platinum Rule is, do unto others as they would like to be treated, not how you think they want to be treated.
