OPM: Treat transgender employees with respect
May 27th, 2011 | Workplace | Posted by Stephen Losey
Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry today sent a memo to agencies answering common questions about how transgender and transitioning employees should be treated in the federal workplace.
“Managers and supervisors should be aware that not all transgender individuals will follow the same pattern, but they all are entitled to the same consideration as they undertake the transition steps deemed appropriate for them, and should all be treated with dignity and respect,” OPM wrote in its guidance.
There are several stages in the process of transitioning from living as a male to living as a female or vice versa, OPM said. First, an individual starts seeing a mental health provider to decide how they might go about transitioning. The second step is usually hormone therapy. And after a period of time on hormone therapy, the person will then live full-time in his or her transitioned gender role for at least a year before becoming eligible for gender reassignment surgery. This “real life experience” is usually when an employer becomes aware that the employee is transitioning to another gender, OPM said.
At this point, the transitioning employee should be allowed to use restrooms or locker rooms designated for his or her new gender, OPM said. There’s a little wiggle room there. OPM said “a reasonable temporary compromise may be appropriate in some circumstances,” but the transitioning employee should not be required to have undergone or show proof of gender reassignment surgery or other medical procedures to use the facilities. OPM also said a transitioning employee must not be required to use facilities that are unsanitary, potentially unsafe, or unreasonably far away from his or her work station.
And as soon as someone starts openly transitioning, OPM said supervisors and co-workers should start using that person’s new name and the pronoun appropriate for his or her new gender identity. And OPM warns supervisors and co-workers not to purposefully refer to a transitioning employee by his or her old name, gender or pronoun. This “may undermine the employee’s therapeutic treatment, and is contrary to the goal of treating transitioning employees with dignity and respect,” OPM said.
As part of the “real life experience,” transitioning employees start dressing at all times in clothes appropriate for his or her new gender identity. OPM said an office shouldn’t use dress code rules to prevent the employee from living in his or her new gender identity.
Tags: John Berry, transgender
Political appointment becomes Letterman punch line
January 8th, 2010 | Commerce White House Workplace | Posted by Tim Kauffman
President Obama’s appointment of the first openly transgender person to a political post became a punch line on David Letterman’s late night talk show, and a leading gay rights group has come out swinging.
Did David Letterman go too far in joke about Amanda Simpson's appointment?
Amanda Simpson began her new job Tuesday as senior technical adviser in the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, where she will monitor the exports of U.S. weapons technology.
Simpson, who has worked in the aerospace and defense industry for 30 years, is the first openly transgender person to receive a presidential appointment, the Human Rights Campaign said. She was born a male and began her transition to a female in 2000, according to an ABC report.
During his monologue on Tuesday night’s show, David Letterman mentioned the appointment and showed a picture of Simpson. Announcer Alan Kalter interrupted, yelling, “What? Amanda? Amanda used to be a dude?,” before running out of the studio in apparent disgust.
The Human Rights Campaign yesterday sent a letter to Letterman and CBS President Nina Tassler asking that Letterman publicly apologize for the joke, which it called “inappropriate and incendiary.”
So far, there’s been no response from Letterman. But it’s not the first time he’s gotten into hot water over jokes about a political figure. In June, Letterman apologized to Sarah Palin and her family over a crude joke he made about her daughter.
So what do you think? Did Letterman go too far this time, or is it all in good fun? Check out the clip below and let us know your thoughts.
