What The Opposition Thinks

Those of you who follow my blog know one of the things that I do is cultural competency training; I have seen a wide range of acceptance from total rejection to tacit acceptance, to total acceptance. Well here is a look at a conservative view of cultural competency training.

Trans Conference Celebrates Getting People Fired For Not Calling Men Women
If this is the workplace of the future, I would rather be prepared ahead of time than surprised later. But it’s going to be quite the journey.
The Federalist
By Anonymous
March 20, 2017

“I was scared to go alone to my ultrasound; so I took a friend. Throughout the procedure, the nurse kept referring to me as a ‘she’. Each time, my friend would correct her. After a while, the nurse seemed confused. ‘She’s having a baby,’ she insisted.” ‘No,’ my friend responded, ‘he’s having a baby.’ It was very upsetting. A week later, the nurse called and left a voicemail with the results of my exam. ‘His cervix and bloodwork look healthy,’ she said. I was so happy. The nurse had finally gotten it.”

This is one of the stories I heard at a recent conference on how to create a transgender-inclusive workplace culture. I went because I wanted to learn the perspective from transgender individuals personally. I also realized that if this is the workplace of the future, I would rather be prepared ahead of time than surprised later.

The conference was administered by a group of transgender individuals, from male-to-female, female-to-male, and even gender-to-genderless. Predictably, it wasn’t a conference for the squeamish. Throughout the day, we were regaled with stories of penis amputations, breasts being bound or removed, and even someone who removed nipples because those represent either gender.

Unfortunately, this is true, there is a "pecking order" in our community,

I was fascinated to learn that there is a pecking order within transgender culture known as “privileged trans.” The first tier of a privileged transgender is someone wealthy enough to be able to afford the full gauntlet of surgeries to appear as a man or woman. Unprivileged transgenders must settle with cross-dressing and shaving. However, the highest level of privilege is someone who is both wealthy and already has certain physical attributes of the preferred sex, such as feminine facial features, a low voice, or broad shoulders.

The penultimate goal of transition is when a person is in “stealth,” which means one is always recognized by strangers as one’s intended gender. When you’re in stealth, you no longer have to worry about “being read,” in which a stranger tries to figure out whether you’re a boy or a girl.

We as a community is hung up on being able to integrate in to society and it is a form of privilege to be able to do so. Many trans people are not able to integrate in to the cisgender community and as a result they face much more bigotry and discrimination but that doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be able to transition.

The article goes on to say about being fired for harassment and discrimination,

I learned it’s illegal in my state to refuse to use someone’s preferred pronoun. Almost every presenter had a story of a time they got a coworker, employee, or boss fired. A speaker (pronouns xe, xyr, xemself) passionately told us of a time when xe had an older coworker who referred to xem as “ma’am.” When xe repeatedly told him xe preferred to be referred to as xem, he responded that he couldn’t, because he had been brought up to be polite and use sir and ma’am.

You know it is all a matter of respect, having respect for others. If you cannot not respect your other coworkers do you belong working there? Before I was laid off there was this guy at work that I hated, he was a complete ass. A bragger who knew everything and just made life hell for those who were around him but he was excellent in his job in contracts. Every time I went to him I always took a deep breath and let it out slowly before I went into his office to calm me down because I knew that as part of my job I had to deal with him. If you can’t work with your coworkers you have no business working for that company.

The article ends with…

Even after being trained, I still have questions. If gender is not biological, then why do we think someone who claims to be trans-black is crazy? Under what moral standard do we prosecute polygamists? Why don’t we consider depression or suicide adequate lifestyle choices? Why is transgender considered a fulfilling life but those with Downs Syndrome should be aborted? Apparently, the only thing society can agree on is that nothing’s worse than being a straight, white man.

Well the first question “If gender is not biological…” is wrong, gender is biological it is just not binary but rather a continuum, a spectrum.

As far as I know, I don’t know anyone who thinks that fetuses with Downs Syndrome should be aborted and I don’t see how that is related to being trans. No, “Apparently, the only thing society can agree on is that nothing’s worse than being a straight, white man” the only thing that we should be able to agree is to treat everyone with respect and dignity.