HRC Blog

Back To Work Initiative For The Trans and Gender Non-Conforming Community

September 2, 2012

by Antonia Smith

On Monday, August 21, 2012, HRC, The Center, and Gender Justice Nevada came together to support fair and fully-inclusive employment for the trans* and gender non-conforming members of our community. Though in its early stages, this coalition is paving the way for change through the Back to Work Initiative (BTWI).

The objective of the BTWI is to give trans* and gender non-conforming people the tools, training, and resources to obtain and retain employment. This involves many components, including educating employers – and this is the component this initial meeting focused on: the harassment and discrimination faced by members of the trans* and gender non-conforming communities every day.

Examples of workplace discrimination include: purposeful misuse of preferred pronouns (i.e. she, him, her) or attributing unrelated factors to illnesses or work performance. An example of the latter: blaming missed deadlines on a person’s undergoing hormonal therapy when he or she was set up to fail from the start by an employer setting unattainable objectives or withholding necessary resources. Other issues include – among many, many others - the harassment based on the preferred use of bathroom and the rarity of gender-neutral facilities.

Through the holistic approach of BTWI, the coalition hopes to address these topics among myriad others in an effort to make it easier for the trans* and gender non-conforming members of our community to obtain and retain work in healthy environments they feel safe in.

Interested in joining the conversation and contributing to the solutions? The next meeting is planned for September 11, 2012, 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m., Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN), 708 S. 6th Street, Las Vegas, NV 89101