I Just Want To Work!

I hear that all the time, trans-people looking for work or being harassed at work. We just want to do our job and not make waves. The Washington Blade has an article about a book on trans-employment, “The Glass Closet: Why Coming Out is Good Business” written by John Browne.

Terri Schlichenmeyer writes in the Blade,

Starting as a young man in 1969, Browne rose through the ranks at oil-giant BP until 2007, when he resigned as chief executive. He might’ve still been there, if not for an unfortunately splashy scandal that seems tame today: Browne is gay. When “a tangled skein of allegations” pulled him out of the closet, he resigned from his job, fearing his life was over.

Obviously, it was not, but he discovered that his experiences aren’t unusual.

Even though there have been strides made, and though nearly all Fortune 500 companies have in place policies to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, more than 40 percent of American LGBT workers remain closeted on the job. According to a survey, 90 percent of transgender employees report problems at work.

“Years of progress have reduced the risk of harassment,” says Browne, “but they have not completely eradicated it.” Coming out is still risky, as evidenced by the interviews he completed with people who mostly asked that their last names not be used. 

Employment discrimination is very different between gays and lesbians then trans-people. It is as different as night and day, you cannot tell gays and lesbians from straight people, while trans-people are very noticeable.

When a gay man comes out at work, you do not have to tell your vendors or customers but you do with trans-people. When a vendor asks for their inside sale’s contact and Jane Doe answers instead of John Doe it is fairly obvious to the vendor.

When we go looking for a job, all our references are for John Doe and if you are not lucky enough to have gone to a college that will change their records then your degree is still under John Doe.

When I advise people who want to transition before they get a job I tell if at all possible don’t transition until you get one performance review under your belt, it will make it a lot harder for them to fire you if you have a work record at the company. It you do not have a performance review and you transition all they have to say, is sorry you haven’t met our expectations… goodbye and it will be so much harder to prove discrimination.

And it you are trans* and you are looking for a job, good luck. It is infinitely harder to find a job. I usually advise someone if they are running out of options in finding a job to look at a temp agency, I know of a few trans-people who had luck getting a job that way. You have a foot in the door by working for a company for a couple of months.

Getting a job as a gay man or a lesbian woman is a lot different than a trans-woman.