I know it’s been awhile since I posted, but I started a new job and was a little, ok a lot, distracted for the last 2 weeks. I’ve been on testosterone for 2 months now (5 shots so far) still at 80 mg and will probably go up next visit, depending on my bloodwork. Physical changes: most noticeable is my voice, getting deeper every day… I LOVE IT. Before I hated the sound of my own voice, now I talk just to hear myself :). Peach fuzz on the face increasing and definitely some hair on my belly….. Woo. My waist is starting to appear more “box like,” less hour glass and the acne is still there, UGH. Mentally, well, I feel this giant weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I can live how I always wanted to…. As myself because as someone once told me “I’m beautiful in this way, because God makes no mistakes, I’m on the right track baby, I WAS BORN THIS WAY”- Lady Gaga
Speaking of work, coming out at work….. It scares me to death. Although gender identity is protected under equal opportunity RI is an “at will” state meaning that your employer can fire you for any reason, and not tell you. I cannot confirm this happened to me because I don’t have any hard evidence, but then again if they don’t need to give you a reason it would be hard to have any evidence. Coming out to your family and friends is one thing, but coming out at work WHOLE DIFFERENT BREED. Like any other red-blooded adult, the transgender person has bills to pay. Hard to do with no job.
Just to put it into perspective here’s some fancy facts for you:
2017 Workplace Equality Fact Sheet
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Workplace Discrimination at a Glance:
- One in four LGBT employees report experiencing employment discrimination in the last five years.
- The Transgender unemployment rate is three times higher than the national average.
- Over one quarter (27%) of transgender people who held or applied for a job in the last year reported being fired, not hired, or denied a promotion due to their gender identity.
- More than three-quarters of transgender employees take steps to avoid mistreatment in the workplace.
- Nearly one in 10 LGBT employees have left a job because the environment was unwelcoming.
- 8 percent of LGBT employees report that discrimination negatively affected their work environment.
- LGBT employees who make it into senior management are much more likely to be out than closeted: 71 percent compared to 28 percent of their closeted counterparts.
- In 2014, more than one in four LGBT adults (2.2 million people) struggled to put food on the table.
Well, I thought new job, new start. Yes that’s right I came out at work to my boss, who was completely cool with it. I told him he would start to notice changes, since I am already. Most of my coworkers know but not all, and that’s ok, in time they too will notice something is not quite the same anymore and I am fully prepared for those conversations. But I’m still scared to death. “At will,” what a horrible loophole.
Coming out at work, there really is no advice I can give. Other than stay strong, stand by your convictions, and never apologize for who you are. And yes, you will have to come out more than once at work, it’s ok sometimes it takes a second, or a third, or a fourth, time to sink in. I work hard, no matter the industry I am in. Working is what drives my day, and yes, pays my bills. Working is a part of who I am.
There is no right way or wrong way to do it. All I can say is I’m glad I did it.
~Jay Barnette~
Original content from: https://thepadiwanjourney.blogspot.com
The Iron Astrolabe 