5 Things / TDOV
Thursday was Transgender Day of Visibility (TDOV). Do you have any transgender people in your life?
As recently as 6 years ago, I only had one transgender friend, a former client. But I gradually got to know a bunch of really brilliant, thoughtful, and kind trans and non-binary people who are doing great things in the world. And I know them (and get to work with them, and get to love them) because they were brave enough to be visible, despite the many, many reasons (like violence and unjust laws) it would seem easier to hide.
Commit today to listen to, follow, hire, refer, introduce, and love trans people. And if you're looking for any referrals of trans people to do business with, ask me! I'm happy to make introductions if I can.
Despite transgender people being under attack by unjust hateful laws in a bunch of U.S. states,, there’s now significant federal recognition of trans people. If your organization’s policies aren’t comprehensively trans-inclusive, you’re going to miss out on some great potential employees. Hit reply if you’d like some help with that.
The Biden administration provided trans people with a lot of good news on Thursday. Here are some of those good vibes:
When someone files a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), they’ll now have a third gender option: Gender X. Similarly, Gender X as a third gender option will be officially available on U.S. passports as of April 11. This option recognizes nonbinary people and is a best practice for self-identification but has never been offered at the federal level.
This matters because there are more than two genders, and the forced binary has meant that lots of transgender and non-binary people have been excluded from traveling as their authentic selves.
In another significant move, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will be updating their scanners to be more trans inclusive. Currently, the TSA agent has to guess someone’s gender as they go through the scanner, which can lead to disclosing one’s trans status.. The new technology will remove the gender-based system of scanning and matters to trans people who report invasive pat-downs at TSA.
Although last week’s Oscars ceremony made headlines for other reasons, it’s important to celebrate CODA, a film largely starring a mostly deaf cast, which won a bunch of awards, including Best Picture. This matters because disability representation is low in media and this film can set a precedent that this representation can and should be mainstream.
The National Football League (NFL) has expanded its Rooney Rule to include women. The rule requires diverse slates of candidates for coaching positions now described as “a female or a member of an ethnic or racial minority." Progress has been slow despite the Rooney Rule but this does matter because diversity will not increase without this type of intentional, structural change to the hiring process.