Employment Law Information

Question:

I get asked a lot “How does it feel to be trans”? and I often find myself not sure how to answer that question. I mean in order to be able to relate, there has to be a common ground of reference you know? Like trying to explain what coming back from death would feel like to someone who’s never gone through it. We’ll never know unless we walk in those shoes. So..I usually try to answer it by asking the other person “In order for me to try to explain it, it would be best if I asked you, are you aware of the privileges you have in society by NOT being trans?” And people often ask me, “What do you mean?” So I found this list of “cisgender (or non transgender) privileges” spoken from the perspective of the non-trans person. In reading them, think about these privileges and how trans people do not have the same opportunities and societal “givens”. This is also why I call b.s. when some glb people try to tell me “we’re all in this together, I understand, we all have discrimination”. NO. Sorry, but what you experience is nothing anywhere CLOSE to what I experience on a nearly everyday basis. See below at all the privileges you have, that we don’t.

1) Strangers don’t assume they can ask me what my genitals look like and how I have sex.

2) My validity as a man/woman/human is not based upon how much surgery I”ve had or how well I “pass” as a non-trans person.

3) When initiating sex with someone, I do not have to worry that they won’t be able to deal with my parts or that having sex with me will cause my partner to question his or her own sexual orientation.

4) I am not excluded from events which are either explicitly or de facto men-born-men or women-born-women only.

5) My politics are not questioned based on the choices I make with regard to my body.

6) I don’t have to hear “so have you had THE surgery?” or “oh, so you’re REALLY [insert incorrect sex or gender]?” each time I come out to someone.

7) I am not expected to constantly defend my medical decisions.

Strangers do not ask me what my “real name” [birth name] is and then assume they have the right to call me by that name.

9) People do not disrespect me by using incorrect pronouns even after they’ve been corrected.

10) I do not have to worry that someone wants to be my friend or have sex with me in order to prove his or her “hipness”, “open mindedness” or “being P.C.”

11) I do not have to worry about whether I will be able to find a bathroom to use or whether I will be safe changing in a locker room.

12) When engaging in political action, I do not have to worry about the gendered repercussions of being arrested (i.e. what will happen if the cops find out that my genitals do not match my gendered appearance?) Will I end up in a cell of my own gender?)

13) I do not have to defend my right to be a part of “queer”, and gays and lesbians will not try to exclude me from our movement in order to gain political legitimacy for themselves.

14) My experience of gender (or gendered spaces) is not viewed as “baggage” by others of the gender in which I live.

15) I do not have to choose between either invisibility (“passing” or “going stealth”) or being consistently “othered” and /or tokenized based on my gender.
16) I am not told that my sexual orientation and gender identity are mutually exclusive.

17) When I go to the gym or pool, I can use showers.

18) If I end up in the emergency room, I do not have to worry that my gender will keep me from receiving appropriate medical care, nor will all of my issues be seen as a product of my gender. (“Your nose is running and your throat hurts? Must be due to the hormones!”)

19) My health insurance provider (or public health system) does not specifically include me from receiving benefits or treatments available to others because of my gender.

20) When I express my internal identities in my daily life, I am not considered “mentally ill” by the medical establishment.

21) I am not required to undergo extensive psychological evaluation in order to receive basic medical care.

22) The medical establishment does not serve as a “gatekeeper” which disallows self-determination of what happens to my body.

23) People do not use me as a scapegoat for their own unresolved gender issues.

Answer:

My question wouldn’t be “what’s it like”, but rather why are you transgendered? There are two genders, male and female. When a mutation of the two results in a third, ya gotta ask what went wrong? If you’re doing it because you made a lifestyle choice to do so, then you have no protected rights so don’t act like you have something coming to you that doesn’t exist. If you’re doing it because of a genetic condition that went haywire, then you may be protected under disability laws.

Are you having any employment related issues because of it?