15 Challenges Transgender and Queer Employees Face at Work

15 Challenges Transgender and Queer Employees Face at Work

Transgender and non-binary employees experience obstacles cisgendered do not.

www.psychologytoday.com

In recent years, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) rights at the workplace have seen progress in countries worldwide.

For some LGBTQ professionals and employees, being open about gender orientation and gender identity on the job no longer have the same stigma and repercussions as they might have in the recent past.


However, many challenges remain for LGBTQs, including whether to “come out” at work, how to respond when a manager, colleague, client, or customer makes homophobic remarks, how to respond when being treated as “different” or “strange,” how to deal with negative office gossip, how to deal with workplace bullying and harassment, and how to cope with inadequate or no employment health benefit coverage for LGBTQ significant others and dependents, to name just a few examples.


In particular, for transgender and non-binary (gender-queer) employees, there continue to be significant difficulties regarding how to conduct themselves in various workplace environments. There may be heightened stress and anxiety over scenarios that may lead to rejection, ridicule, hostility, or institutional persecution.


Here are fifteen challenges transgender and non-binary/genderqueer employees often experience in the workplace. Depending on the individual and her/his/their circumstances and environment, the number and degree of difficulties differ.

1. When meeting or being introduced for the first time, how to deal with managers’, coworkers’, clients’ or customers’ surprised, often automatic and disconfirming verbal and nonverbal social cues (i.e., starring incredulously, avoiding eye contact, etc.).


2. How to respond when identified and called with the incorrect pronoun, either mistakenly or deliberately, by managers, colleagues, staff, clients, and/or customers.

3. How to fill out employment and human resource documents (i.e., healthcare, marital status, life insurance, disability insurance, retirement, other benefits) which allow only “male” and “female” designations. Relatedly, whether they will receive gender-affirming healthcare, life, and disability insurance coverage.


4. How to deal with professional exclusion at the office (i.e., not called on during meetings, not engaging in eye contact, not asked for input, not invited to join projects and task groups).

5. How to deal with professional exclusion from meeting clients, customers, or visitors due to transphobic/queerphobic discomfort and embarrassment.


6. How to deal with transphobic/queerphobic comments, stereotypes, or questions (i.e., “YOU want to have children?”) whether such utterances are made innocently or maliciously.

7. How to deal with transphobic/queerphobic micro-aggressions and passive-aggressions on the job (i.e., teasing, sarcasm, avoidance, incompliance, procrastination, excuse-making, project sabotage).


8. How to deal with social exclusion at the office (i.e., excluded from “watercooler talk,” informal office conversations, an invitation to coffee, lunch, or other employee social activities).

9. How to deal with transphobic/queerphobic negative gossip at work and on colleagues’ social media.

10. Potential complaints from coworkers, clients, and/or customers who do not wish to work with/be serviced by a transgender/queer staff.


11. Whether to use the “women’s” or “men’s” restroom at the office due to lack of gender-neutral facility or inadequate signage. Relatedly, how to deal with potential complaints from coworkers, clients, and/or customers not comfortable with the transgender/queer employee using gender-specific public restrooms.


12. Whether they will be allowed to participate in networking and professional development opportunities intended for “women professionals.”

13. When well-qualified (or best qualified), deal with rejection from promotions, advancement, and other opportunities due to possible transphobia/queerphobia.

14. How to deal with openly transphobic/queerphobic bullying, hostility, aggression, and abuse from coworkers, customers, or clients.


15. How to deal with demotion or layoff from employment due to potential transphobia/queerphobia, with inadequate legal employment protection against gender orientation and gender identity discrimination.

 

[Chilson]

I will just give the proper response to these "challenges"

1. When meeting or being introduced for the first time, how to deal with managers’, coworkers’, clients’ or customers’ surprised, often automatic and disconfirming verbal and nonverbal social cues (i.e., starring incredulously, avoiding eye contact, etc.).

Its the sane response when having to work with the mentally ill.

2. How to respond when identified and called with the incorrect pronoun, either mistakenly or deliberately, by managers, colleagues, staff, clients, and/or customers.

Shut the fuck up faggot and do your work.

3. How to fill out employment and human resource documents (i.e., healthcare, marital status, life insurance, disability insurance, retirement, other benefits) which allow only “male” and “female” designations. Relatedly, whether they will receive gender-affirming healthcare, life, and disability insurance coverage.

despite those documents now all having a "not applicable" or other equally gay third option, just put your fucking checkmark on the box and stop making things difficult. Shut up and do your work.

4. How to deal with professional exclusion at the office (i.e., not called on during meetings, not engaging in eye contact, not asked for input, not invited to join projects and task groups).

Your mentally ill, which means your work output sucks and no one likes working with you but no one can fire you. Either produce better work, stop being mentally ill, or shut up and do your work.

5. How to deal with professional exclusion from meeting clients, customers, or visitors due to transphobic/queerphobic discomfort and embarrassment.

same as challenge 4.

6. How to deal with transphobic/queerphobic comments, stereotypes, or questions (i.e., “YOU want to have children?”) whether such utterances are made innocently or maliciously.

Getting "triggered" by every co-workers completely valid questions will only make them less likely to engage and work with you. Answer the fucking question like a normal person or shut up and do your work.

7. How to deal with transphobic/queerphobic micro-aggressions and passive-aggressions on the job (i.e., teasing, sarcasm, avoidance, incompliance, procrastination, excuse-making, project sabotage).

No one has time to deal with your made up slights. Shut up and do your work.

8. How to deal with social exclusion at the office (i.e., excluded from “watercooler talk,” informal office conversations, an invitation to coffee, lunch, or other employee social activities).

Same as challenge 4.

9. How to deal with transphobic/queerphobic negative gossip at work and on colleagues’ social media.

If your stalking your co-workers social media, your the problem. Shut up and do your work.

10. Potential complaints from coworkers, clients, and/or customers who do not wish to work with/be serviced by a transgender/queer staff.

Same as challenge 4 + its a customers and work partners right to choose who they do business with. Accept it or shut up and do your work.

11. Whether to use the “women’s” or “men’s” restroom at the office due to lack of gender-neutral facility or inadequate signage. Relatedly, how to deal with potential complaints from coworkers, clients, and/or customers not comfortable with the transgender/queer employee using gender-specific public restrooms.

Go to the right bathroom you fucking freak. The right bathroom being the gender you were born as (unless you can pass, which most of you can't). Shut up and do your work.

12. Whether they will be allowed to participate in networking and professional development opportunities intended for “women professionals.”

Your not a women. Shut up and do your work.

13. When well-qualified (or best qualified), deal with rejection from promotions, advancement, and other opportunities due to possible transphobia/queerphobia.

Your not the most qualified because of challenge 4. You also don't get to decide who is promoted and people are famously bad at evaluating their own abilities (especially the mentally ill). Shut up and do your work.

14. How to deal with openly transphobic/queerphobic bullying, hostility, aggression, and abuse from coworkers, customers, or clients.

Same as challenge 7.

15. How to deal with demotion or layoff from employment due to potential transphobia/queerphobia, with inadequate legal employment protection against gender orientation and gender identity discrimination.

Same as challenge 13

TLDR: shut the fuck up and do your work

 

[Immortal Technique]

I do wonder if the gays/lesbians realize they're being used by the troons. This whole article is purely about the troons, while being masked behind the whole gay community. Why? Because gays can at least be normal, functioning humans in society. Hope the rainbow flag loves when the pedos will do the same thing to them.

 

[Michael Jacks0n]

I don't know what companies these people are working at, but anyone who's worked a business with more than 50 employees in the past 5 years has been subject to countless assessment modules about sexual harassment and discrimination. Not to mention constantly showered with rainbows and pride shit for an entire month each year.

PLing here, but I'm an IT contractor who's worked onsite at numerous Fortune 500 companies, and every 6 months or so we have to watch these mandatory videos about company policy which includes sexual harassment/discrimination. In June of each year they pull out all the stops and dial the LGBTBBQ+ shit to 11.

 

[Lyle Delmar Chipperson]

Working with or around troons must be the equivalent of having a gun to your head for eight hours a day, five days a week. I can not possibly give enough sympathy for anyone that has to work with these freaks.

 

[Standardized Profile]

15 Challenges Transgender and Queer Employees Create at Work:

1. When meeting them, you have no idea what to call them (sir, ma'am) or how to refer to them in the third person. All you know is if you get it wrong--and with the proliferation of pronouns, you're more likely to get it wrong than right--there will be hell to pay.

2. Paying hell for rule #1.

3. How to process documents with discrepant or even impossible genders and names.

4. How to keep your meetings from turning into lectures about pronouns or why we aren't doing enough for pride month.

5. How to keep them away from customers.

6. How to avoid making polite smalltalk that would be innocuous for normal people but trigger a transperson.

7. How to avoid making "microaggressions" that no one but a troon would notice, and oh boy will they notice them.

8. How to avoid them butting into every conversation and creeping everyone out with their fake trans voice.

9. How to keep them from listening in to private conversations and stalking your social media.

10. How to keep your business functioning when the troon can't work with anyone.

11. Complaints from women about the man digging used tampons out of the trash in their bathroom.

12. More complaints from women, this time about men inviting themselves to the women's conference you let them go to during working hours while the men keep the business running.

13. Increased documentation requirements to show the troon isn't getting any work done and that's why they weren't promoted.

14. The troon imagining that they are being bullied because someone brushed up against them in a crowded hallway and said, "Excuse me" but didn't say "ma'am."

15. Increased documentation requirements to fire somebody.

 

[Knight of the Rope]

I feel like all of those "challenges" are the result of being an insufferable cunt, regardless of mental illness.

But in the tranny's 'defense' though, being a tranny is basically comorbid with being an insufferable cunt anyway. They're pretty much synonyms.

 

[Exigent Circumcisions]

I must admit that I have never met a tranny who was such an exceptional person that I would be willing to deal with the potential liabilities of interacting with them in any meaningful way.
If I have to meet one for any reason, its "smile, nod, move on". There's no way I'm going to risk my employment trying to understand these people, because a single innocent /misheard/misrepresented statement could cause me untold drama.

So either be more awesome, or shut the fuck up.

I've met one tranny who was chill enough to have a few beers and shoot the shit about our different views on the cultural zeitgeist re: gender. We didn't agree on everything but I didn't mince words and she didn't overreact to it. All in all a better conversation on the subject than I usually have in real life. I even sucked her dick afterwards in the spirit of bonhomie.

But all of the other trannies I've been exposed to? I wouldn't say a fucking word to them.

 

[Frostnipped Todger]

I even sucked her dick afterwards in the spirit of bonhomie.

I don't kinkshame bro. You do you.
Eta: you do you, and one tranny

 

[Occam's Spork]

Thanks WAPO, for reminding me that certain trans and "queer" people are insufferable assholes yet again.

"Validate me and my decisions or you're a bigot!" That's what the professional victims/ douchebag attention seeking faggots in that community are really saying.

How about I just simply say that I don't care, you do you, and I have a job to do? Nope, can't do that!

I'll purposefully go do something I hate at a job if it means I can avoid that section of LGBT at work. Some trans ppl can be decent, if they don't make 7/8ths of their job all mememememememe about what they identify as. Fuck off, only you and the legal dept care, the rest of us have work to do. "Queer" ppl are generally totally obnoxious attention seekers, and are really what this article is about.

Oh, you identify as non binary? Cool! I identify as a black Inuit whale deity lawn gnome! Nice to meetcha! Btw, I have to go inventory the ceiling tiles, so you have a great one, mmm'k?

STFU and do your job, it's no one's but yours to validate you.

 

[Adolphin]

Avoiding gas chambers should be certainly one of them.

 

[Male Idiot]

Why is AIDS not on the list?

 

[Unpaid Emotional Labourer]

Being told no; someone shaking their head in a “no”-adjacent fashion; someone seeming to want to say “no“ but not doing so; the possibility that there exists, somewhere, someone who might say “no;” the possibility that in the Multiverse there could be many people saying “no;”someone saying “yes” but with insufficient enthusiasm; someone saying “yes” but failing to prove their loyalty to the troon cause by sucking ladydick...

I don’t think that’s fifteen so probably something about not being invited to baby showers and bachelorette parties and similar microaggressions. Mommy Corporate promised the AGP he would get to have play dates where no one can be mean to him or ignore him, where are his play dates where no one can be mean to him or ignore him?

 

[WonderWino]

The author left out the most obvious one - behaving like a normal, sane person at work. That is the most difficult challenge of all for these loons