In her early days as an openly transgender individual in the workforce, Beatrice Shumway encountered a disheartening reality – her superiors seldom met her gaze. Despite her upfront disclosure of her transgender identity and her preferred she/they pronouns during the job interview, her bosses consistently brushed aside any discussion on the topic. She endured the distressing experience of being deadnamed and misgendered throughout her tenure at that job, even though her pronouns were prominently displayed on pins and her hat.
“I was told not to make a big deal out of it,” Shumway, 27, recalled. “I was told that it was weirding customers out.”
A 2021 McKinsey study underscored that over half of transgender employees do not feel comfortable being open about their identity at work.
“People who identify as transgender feel far less supported in the workplace than their cisgender colleagues do,” noted the study. “They report that it’s more difficult to understand workplace culture and benefits, and harder to get promoted. They also feel less supported by their managers.”
This lack of support forced Shumway to remain in a perpetual job hunt, scrutinizing job opportunities based on their online presence and the presence of positive messaging during Pride month. Unfortunately, due to financial constraints, she often found herself working for companies with bigoted bosses.
It was only when she secured a position at Lens Crafters that she finally found respect and protection for her rights. Her boss there shielded her whenever customers displayed hostility towards her.
Andrew McCaskill, a career expert at LinkedIn, describes the jobs that trans workers sometimes settle for as “vehicles not destinations.”
“Everyone doesn’t have the luxury of passing up a job opportunity because of an unsafe environment,” he pointed out.
However, job seekers can identify more inclusive workplaces using LinkedIn’s “values matching tool,” which provides information about a company’s family formation benefits, queer-inclusive parental leave, gender transition guidelines, queer resource groups, and the positions company executives have taken on certain topics.
McCaskill advises employers to conduct empathy-based training sessions that make inclusion a personal incentive for both workers and employers, emphasizing the impact and consequences of bigotry in the workplace.
“It’s not about recruiting diverse talent,” he stressed. “It’s about exiting bad actors.”
Legislation and Ongoing Struggles
Despite the Supreme Court of the United States affirming in 2020 that the Civil Rights Act protects the LGBTQ community and President Biden’s executive order safeguarding LGBTQ federal workers from discrimination, efforts to undermine LGBTQ workers’ rights persist.
In June, the Washington Blade reported that a federal judge had struck down a law signed by Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that sought to ban transgender residents from using Medicaid for gender-affirming care.
“It’s very hard to legislate acceptance,” noted McCaskill.
For many transgender individuals, pursuing legal action in response to discrimination remains an unattractive option due to discouraging interactions with human resource departments.
“I just don’t see a chance of winning,” Shumway expressed.
However, Shumway has a crucial message for all employers.
“The trans agenda is not real. We don’t want any special treatment,” she emphasized. “I’m not a trans woman. I’m a human being.”
