My focus since the passage of the gender identity and expression anti-discrimination law here in Connecticut has been education. I have given a number of workshops and class lectures about the new law and this spring I signed up to give two workshops at conferences, the first one I have heard back yet on whether it has been accepted but the second on was accepted and it will be at the April conference of the Connecticut chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW). The workshop is titled “A Look at the Culture of the Transgender Community” and I hope to teach therapist about what to expect their transgender clients to face out in the world. In part the description for the workshop is,
The other workshop that I submitted I haven’t heard back from them if my proposal was accepted yet, I should hear from them some time shortly. The conference is the True Colors Conference this March and the title of the workshop is, “Policies for Gender Variant Students” and the description that I submitted read,
I hope to do other workshops at other conferences around the Northeast to teach about our needs in the trans-community.
My Story is a weekly series of blog posts about my transition and observation of life as a trans-person.
When talking to members of the transgender community, we hear the same concerns repeatedly, that trans-people are hesitant to come out to their therapist because they fear that the therapist will not understand what they are going through. This workshop is designed to bridge that gap and to lay the groundwork for understanding of the needs and culture of individuals in the transgender community.So I am excited that I will be presenting this workshop to my peers (I’m on the committee that picked the workshops so I had to recuse myself from the discussion.).
The other workshop that I submitted I haven’t heard back from them if my proposal was accepted yet, I should hear from them some time shortly. The conference is the True Colors Conference this March and the title of the workshop is, “Policies for Gender Variant Students” and the description that I submitted read,
This workshop will examine barriers that gender diverse students face in schools and how the non-discrimination law affects them. In a school system, some of the obstacles gender diverse students face in their educations can easily be overcome by having a policy in place. This workshop will cover briefly the transition process and the Connecticut anti-discrimination law. Then we will look at what a school policy should cover, such as name change, changing records and the use of bathrooms.and I submitted it for the “Professional” track. The workshop is a spin-off of the speech that I gave this summer at the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities (CHRO) at the Legislative Office Building. It was well received there and hopeful it will be well received at the True Colors conference if it is accepted. I plan of using the CHRO’s booklet “Guidelines for Schools on Gender Identity and Expression” as an outline for the workshop. (The booklet was produced by the Safe School Coalition which I am member representing the Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition (CTAC).)
I hope to do other workshops at other conferences around the Northeast to teach about our needs in the trans-community.
My Story is a weekly series of blog posts about my transition and observation of life as a trans-person.
Too mazny times things happen, where they discriminate against a minority to satisfy the others in their rank. Does this remind anyone of the Civil Rights Acts, Womens sufferage, etc.
ReplyDeleteHere is my Story
I came out in August 2010 while working as a U.S. Federal employee.
During this time my management and the division management were aware that I had had a legal name change, and the Social security office, the state I work in, and the Federal government had recognized me as "Female"and issued me all new identification.
During the nine months after transitioning, the excellent above par, Superior comments disappeared; replaced by not being a team member, not willing to work with anyone, to even not being invited to meetings I was once a part of.
The next instance seemed to be being set up for failure by the group supervisor, and the upper management. As I had done in years prior I lead Quality driven events at Contractor locations to ensure quality items, only to have them take at least 2 personnel from each away trip for at least a day for their own agenda, and informed no one, or usurped the lead position to tell me I was there to support the Contractors in our office, and that was my job, instead of coordinating and leading the effort.
Other items included the team I worked on having off-site meeting where I was not invited and not only did the supervisor condone harassment, derogatory remarks, and find even the smallest thing to bring to management for complaints, he not only encouraged it he initiated, and took part in it, both with his team and with one of the Prime businesses that we had contracted to work with to support our troops. This resulted in snide remarks, snickers, and hostility which resulted in my removal from that office ten months after transitioning there.
Upon my return to the Agency I came from, I was given little or no tasking, and things I had done unsupervised or as a lead were no longer a lead, but a menial series of tasks, that either no one wanted to do, did not have time to do, or did not want to do. All tasks I performed were done under supervision, met with extreme criticism, review of efforts, and no support, with greater allowances and excuses for those whom chose not to respond until past the deadline. Reviews of completed work often came weeks or months after the completion of the task and always seemed to have to be redone, when they same formats and data of the reports had received comments like innovative, excellent work, or superior technical analysis.