Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I have Just gone through the official declaration of being transgender within my company .setting out my rights and expectations both from the company and of course from Me .when the subject came up of using the restrooms I was told from now on use the bathroom that matches your presentation and if anybody protests then to send them to Human Recources and they will be asigned a restroom to use .Now that is brilliant policy .I love where I work

Anita xxxx

I do love hearing about supportive work places that already have a plan for those who feel offended.

That is so awesome! :D So glad to hear they are looking out for you. 

Congrats on the success of your coming out at work - it also makes me *so* happy to read success stories when people come out at work and it goes well. Such events help people become aware that we are no different than they are and that we just wanna pee.

When I came out at work my company did not have any policies about transgender employees, although they did have the usual non discrimination stuff in place but it did explicitly mention gender. Then I came out and they had to create those policies :laugh:

They did everything right including bringing in a company to do a presentation about what was going on with me and what would happen along the way which included the fact that I would be using the ladies room. I think my company made the same deal that your company did where people with a problem with me could talk to management.

My perception (I have no direct knowledge; I did get some nervous looks for the first few days) is that initially there might have been some concerns by a few women but they went away after the first few days when they realized that I was in there for the same reason that they were ::)

I have been in the restroom peeing alongside our female CEO a few times and thats a little surreal.

Really good to hear about these stories. It means things are definitely going towards right way and definitely improving in our society. Congratulation  :)

Its interesting how the bathroom both is and isn't a problem. This issue came up with me too. A couple of women were uncomfortable with the thought. They don't care anymore. At least not that I know of. Its like they forget there are dividers. Locker rooms might be an issue, but bathrooms certainly aren't.

At work I asked the HR director about bathrooms in my last "coming out and going full time" meeting.

I asked her what to do if someone tries to prevent me from using the women's restroom.

She was rather surprised and said, "really? People do that? You'd think that they just want to get in and out!"

She also said if they give me any trouble to refer them to her.

I was a bit shocked that this was an issue myself. I do exactly what your HR lady said. Fortunately once people realized that, it wasn't an issue anymore.

Quote from: iKate on May 02, 2015, 11:31:43 AM
At work I asked the HR director about bathrooms in my last "coming out and going full time" meeting.

I asked her what to do if someone tries to prevent me from using the women's restroom.

She was rather surprised and said, "really? People do that? You'd think that they just want to get in and out!"

She also said if they give me any trouble to refer them to her.

I've a feeling the same will be for me. I work at a college that has an established acceptance policy. so no concerns for my job per se. But it doesn't address restroom issues. But I suspect that HR does have a policy and will talk to my female co-workers about that. My prayer is that they will accept it since I hope be able to convey that I have "always" been female inside.

I think it's great that even amid the barrage of crazy "Bathroom Bills" going around from state to state there ARE plenty of people in positions to make a difference for the trans community who have our backs.

I've worked at this company for over 8 years, and most of that was presenting female. Ish. So it had been the ladies room. My office moved into the corporate building as part of a lateral move that was step one of a promotion right before I started T. And before I had told anyone anything.

So the first few months of T found me still in the ladies room, because I was being a chicken and wasn't at all sure what this big company was going to say. To the best of my research skills, our EEO policy hadn't been updated since 2008 and what I found left a LOT of room for problems.

Then one day a friend of mine sent me a link. She had found a copy of our new EEO policy in a industry magazine of all places!!! This was also right around the time that the company got voted into the Forbes list and such, but the policy predated the vote.

I had to wonder..."Why isn't this public to the employees?" So my response was to have a chat with HR the next day I was at work. I dug around and found a secondary job title of "Diversity Coordinator", and decided it was time to meet her. The whole thing went better than my wildest dreams.

I had only been in the corporate offices a month or so, but there were people that knew me from before, so I was hesitant to do anything public.

But the answer was the same as many here have reported...use the bathroom that matches your presentation, and if someone doesn't like that they can go deal with the head of HR. NO ONE here wants to deal with the head of HR. She can either be your best friend or your worst enemy, and it all depends on whether or not you conduct yourself in a professional manner and whether or not you do your freaking job. She has no time, spoons, or >-bleeped-<s for anything less.

She (with my approval) send a quick email to all the corporate managers informing them that there was a transgender employee and that the company expected them and their staffs to continue to conduct themselves in a professional manner that adheres to the company's values and standards. And that all problems should be directed to her personally.

Much to my surprise, no one had a dang thing to say. I even asked her out of her curiosity.

I received messages of support from the CEO directly, assuring me that he was fully in support and that while tho "who" was not being shared with the employees, the board and the rest of the exec staff was also in my corner.

The point of my ramble is....sometimes people surprize us in the best of ways. It wasn't long after that note from the CEO that I happened to pass him entering the bathroom as I was exiting...right around lunch too so of course there was plenty of traffic in the area. He greeted me by name and asked how everything was going.

The CEO of a multi-billion dollar company....I can't imagine an action on his part that would have made a bigger statement of support that to pause in the entrance to the men's room to greet the transguy by name with a smile and ask how everything was going.

Yes, it's great that so many girls here have been accepted for being themselves.

I think the worst part will be the first few times, where you expect to get "looks" and maybe some laughter, but I'm hoping, as has gone on with you, that other women accept you, and we are all there for the same thing.