Senior thesis

Gender Identity, Sexual orientation & Passing

It was apparent each interviewee knew a transgender was one that identifies with a gender opposite of the one assigned at birth. However, I do not believe it was wise to presume the Trans participants sexual orientation. One of my transwomen referred to herself as a lesbian stating, “Yes! I love women always have loved women so people naturally believed I was a heterosexual male instead of a homosexual female.” One of the other interviewees happened to be a widowed male whom was married to transman for over twenty years. They had three children and grandchildren before the deceased spouse came out to the family as being transgender. This late transition made it difficult for the widow to refer to his spouse in the correct pronoun throughout the interview. He requested we called his spouse “Sweetie” to refrain from having to use terms such as he or she. Although he tried his hardest he found himself upset shouting, “Oh damn see I messed it up again please forgive me if I mess this up.”

One of my other transman interviewees recalled wishing he was into women so he could tell his mother he was a lesbian would have been easier. I questioned what he meant by easier and he shared, “yea its like tell your mom you’re a lesbian and see how she takes that, then wait a few years and tell her you’re really Trans and she won’t disown you. I don’t know it sounded logical back then but sounds confusing saying it out loud.” In the end his mother did not come around to accepting his gender as transman and resulted in a lost relationship. My transgender participants found it necessary to discuss their sexual orientation, whereas the hiring officials did not bother to inquire about it.

One of cis female respondents spoke of her close work relationship with a transman and it was evident he was one of the only Trans in my research attracted to the opposite sex. She often referred to him as her work husband and alluded to his playboy tactics. This respondent shared a message delivered by the transman stating, “He said make sure I tell all the single women he is single and looking”. Since each Trans respondent and Tran’s supporter respondent all felt the same in regards that their gender being just as prominent as that of the cis individuals, they did not want their sexual orientation to be misconstrued.

One thing I noticed is that each Tran’s participant had a different background from the other. For example, the deceased transman was very feminine while living as a female. His widow claimed no one ever had a clue he ever wanted to be a man because he never looked nor dressed like a man. On the other hand the transman interviewee shared a memory stating, “Ok remember when we were younger and everyone use to call me baby Iverson because I always had my hair braided like him and I wore his jerseys (laughs) I even wore those wrist bands.” He made it clear his choice of style was far from feminine.

The pattern of the transwomen differed as began in a feminine state before their transition. I asked at what age they knew they were not their birth assigned gender. I was searching for their earliest memory. One of the transwomen recalled, “I can’t think of the exact age but I remember a picture my mom took of me wearing her heels I couldn’t have been any older than about 3 or 4.” She often stated throughout the interview her fascination with girl clothes and makeup. The cis male hiring official recalled giving a job interview to what he referred to as a “linebacker in a skirt”.

In addition two of the respondents used the term “pass” in relation to transgender identity. I questioned what is meant to pass and the interview shared, “Yea so some of them actually look like the female society deems a female to look like or vice versa…it’s like if they can look the part they can get the part.” The same cis female interviewee shared a horrific incident in which one of her friends was attacked by a fellow co-worker. She stated, “Funny thing is she was one of the ones that “pass” I guess a little too much because the guy found himself attacked to her and when he found out she was trans he beat her senseless in the jobs parking lot.”

Legal recognition

Transgender persons simply want to be acknowledged as the person they are regardless of anatomy. I asked all interviewees questions pertaining to their stance on using a Trans persons preferred pronoun and the one that struggled the most was the widower of a transman. In the end of the interview he made a revelation within himself by stating, “But honestly now with a clear mind I can say even I was ignorant. I mean I can’t do the small thing like her, him in this interview.” He also expressed how he would call his spouse my male name but other family members would still use the female name.

I asked all of my transgender interviewees if their self-proclaimed genders and names were on their government identifications and two of them had the name changed but not the gender and one had the name and gender changed. When I asked one of the transmen if it was due to it being a long process his response was, “ No, but people in the records department have not very accepting so we are going through an attorney to get the problem fixed or we will just be prepared to sue for discrimination.” The pattern was all of my transgender interviewees did not have an issue in regards to changing their names but faced a multitude of issues when changing their gender. None of the respondents declared whether changing the gender on their ID cards was easiest after having bottom surgery, also known as the procedure that would change the current genitals to that of the preferred gender’s genitals.

In the interview with the cis female hiring official she pointed out some transgender want to be addressed as Trans while others do not. She recalled an interview with a transman stating, “Yes, once there was a transman during an interview that stated he preferred to be called a man not a “transman” he didn’t like that title and I respected it.” My next inquiry was if she believed this would be a common reoccurrence among transgender persons and she shared, “It is possible because people are people and want to be seen as such no one wants to have a suffix in front of their pronoun that reminds them they were born a different way.” As a result, while all transgender persons want to be legally recognized as their preferred gender and names, some have chosen to rid the Trans label.

Employment

Employers have implemented equal opportunity within their organizations in hopes of discouraging discrimination among their employees. Three of my respondents experienced discrimination during their transition period by hiring officials and one hiring official admitted to not hiring a transgender candidate. One of the transwomen respondents recalled being laid off the job she’d worked since graduating from college as a male once her boss found out she was having genital reassignment surgery. She stated, I was confused at first because I had been there longer than a lot of the other people they kept on board…I received many awards with them for my work performance but I was let go.” The widow of the transman shared a similar story of his deceased spouse saying, “She had been on that job over 15 years and they want her cause she was now a he and they didn’t know how they was gonna explain that to the parents.” The transwoman was able to preserve after surgery and find work, while the despair of such rejection took the ultimate toll on the transman.

In addition, one of the hiring officials was not aware of his discriminatory acts when refusing to hire a transgender person. He shared his conflicting experience by stating, “Well that was the was the issue this person came for an interview and their demeanor and appearance was untidy..ooh, I can’t really explain it without sounding rude, which I’m nor by the way, But I still gave them a chance by asking for a resume and a few general questions about recent employers. They didn’t have a resume and the reason for no longer working previous jobs were long drawn out explanations. Honestly, I was thinking of the many problems this person may bring to the company.” This respondent was responsible for hiring the majority of the employees within the company and was unaware of any transgender persons working for the company. He could only recall the one encounter with a transgender during his tenure with the company.

I asked the cis females that worked alongside a transman at a very prestigious company if she witnessed any discrimination against him. She shared, “Not at my company but since I have been supporting the community I could tell you the stories I have heard girl. I mean people have been denied all types of jobs. One girl was denied a job at (famous fast food chain) come on now who gets denied a job at a (famous fast food chain) you know that was straight up hate.” Another of the cis female hiring officials stated she has hired various transgender employees in the interview she said, “I currently have 7 employees and of the 7, 2 of them are transmen. I haven’t had any transwomen work for me yet but and I definitely open to it.” The first company has over 100,000 employees while the latter only has 9 and it is evident it does not matter the size of the organization.

The final question I posed all of the interviewees was whether their workplace facility had restrooms to accommodate their transgender employees. One of the transwomen shared the restrooms are unique saying, “The company I work for is in a small building so there are two restrooms without any labels on them. Some may assume there are two for male and female but honestly everyone use whichever is available at the time.” One of my other respondents is a truck driver and stated he use the same route and stop at the same stops so he can use the same restrooms. Repetitiveness’s usually keeps away the unknown.