On the Job: Gender Identity & Sexuality Discrimination in the Office
As the LGBT community fights for equality in the workplace, one transgender employee tells his story
Article written by Souleo.
Posted in B.E. Exclusives, Careers, Diversity on Thursday, February 17, 2011, 10:00
http://www.blackenterprise.com/2011/02/17/gender-identity-and-sexuality-in-the-workplace/As a young girl, Kylar Broadus (born Karen) always knew that he was in the wrong body. He spent endless nights praying for God to change him from female-to-male. Finally, in 1995, after discovering that sex change procedures were covered through his company's insurance policy, he began a 15-year transition from Karen to Kylar, but the Columbia, Missouri native never thought that this decision would come at the cost of his job.
After seven years as an employee at a major financial institution, Broadus told his boss of his decision to have a sex change. In addition to beginning hormone therapy treatments, he changed his name to his present moniker and began dressing in a more masculine fashion. Broadus alleges that his boss created a hostile work environment where his every action was recorded; he was questioned about his sex life; he was accused of trying to coerce a White female superior into an affair; and he was inundated with extra work assignments that were frequently changed at the last minute. The covert harassment eventually became overt when Broadus' superior informed him that he would never advance in the company unless he changed his appearance.
