Coincidentally

My daughter has been anxious to leave the nest for awhile now, but has been unsuccessful finding a nest to purchase. So she has decided to rent and found a studio loft apartment in a converted factory in Hartford.

We visited the apartment on Monday, fell in love with the place and she will be moving in soon.

Coincidentally, the old factory also houses the offices of an LGBT organization on my list for potential volunteering.

Originally, the organization was low on my list because I was a little leery about the neighborhood and I was not enamored about the commute to and from Hartford.

I researched the neighborhood and it turns out it is rated one of the safer neighborhoods in Hartford. And the commute is not too bad... 25 minutes door-to-door. Since I will be a volunteer, I can probably choose my hours and avoid the morning and evening rush hours, so that makes the commute even easier.

As a result, the organization is now at the top of my list.

Wearing a Prada bag and a Tahari suit (Source: Rue La La).

Freddie Mercury femulating in a music video for The Great Pretender.

Second Act

I enjoy retirement and recommend it highly, but I do have free time on my hands and I would like to use some of it productively as a woman outside of the home.

We are lucky enough to live in an area replete with museums and art galleries that are always looking for volunteers. There are also LGBT organizations in the area that welcome volunteers. And the national ham radio organization that I used to freelance for is also nearby and needs volunteers. On the other hand, a part-time job that pays would be nice, too.

So I am ready for my second act, but is the world ready for a woman like me?

I assume that the LGBT organizations would not have a problem. Museums and art galleries are usually run by open-minded folks, so they would probably be OK with me, too. But I am not so sure about the ham radio organization and paid positions.

What to do?

Wearing Tibi blazer-jumpsuit and The Range turtleneck (Source: Intermix)

Contestants in the 1974 Los Angeles Miss Cotillion pageant.

Where You Can Be Fired For Being Transgender

Courtesy of The Huffington Post.

EEOC Ruling Protects Transgender Employees

"The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission (EEOC) issued a ruling on Monday that provides protection from workplace discrimination for transgender individuals. The ruling holds that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination against employees or job applicants on the basis of race, gender, color, religion, and national origin, should be applied to transgender individuals."

(source: Ms. Magazine Feminist Wire Newsbriefs)

Transform for a Better America

With unemployment at 8.3% nationwide, the Obama administration yesterday announced a new program to reduce unemployment.

During the recession, male workers were hit harder than their female counterparts. And during the recovery, females have been more successful at finding jobs than males. In fact, the rate of unemployment among males has worsened during the recovery, while females have made great gains. It is the positive job growth of the females that is responsible for bringing down the unemployment rate from its peak of 10% in October 2009.

That being the state of the nation's work environment, the administration is laying out plans to feminize unemployed male workers in order to make them more attractive candidates for the jobs that are out there.

In her announcement about the new program, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis stated, "Let me make this clear: we are not urging males to have sex reassignment surgery, but we are suggesting that unemployed males seriously consider crossdressing on a full-time basis in order to get jobs."

In addition to putting unemployed males back to work as women, the economy will be stimulated by a surge in the retail sales of women's products and services by the new full-time "women." This surge will also create new employment opportunities in the retail sector.

“It’s a win-win situation!” Solis suggested, “The guys who become gals will be shopping their hearts out for a new wardrobe. Sales will boom and retailers will have to hire new salespeople to handle the demand. So why not hire guys to be their new salesgirls?”

Solis estimates that 7 to 8 million males can be feminized and employed during the next six months and that the success of this program will stimulate an additional 14 to 16 million males to be feminized over the following year. This will bring the unemployment rate down to about 5.5%.

Women are encouraged to help feminize their unemployed males and they will be assisted by a new government pamphlet titled "Transform Your Male to Female for a Better America." The Labor Deportment will also establish Feminization Training Facilities (FTFs) in 73 cities throughout the US, which will offer a free one-week course for male-to-female trainees.

Visit the Deportment of Labor's website for more information.

Out Tuesday and A Visit With HR

Out Tuesday

Tomorrow, I will participate in two Human Sexuality classes at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven.

Typically, four to eight trans people show up for this event. Professor Schildroth introduces us to the class, we each give a short biography, and then the students ask questions.

Sometimes the students have lots of questions and sometimes getting them to ask questions is like pulling teeth!

You never know, but either way, our participation gives us an opportunity to do outreach amongst the civilian population. To evangelize the fact that trans people are just like everybody else... maybe with just a little more fashion-sense.

A Visit With HR

After attending the Transgender Health and Law Conference on Saturday, I had questions for my Human Resource (HR) representative at work.

Before going into see my HR rep, I double-checked the employee handbook and as I remembered, there were no references to "gender identification" or "transgender."

I was concerned with the contradictory messages I thought I received from my HR rep on the two occasions I spoke to her about being transgender. I asked my rep about what I perceived as mixed messages.

Her reply was that there was no company policy regarding transgender or gender identity. On the other hand, she believed that the company would support my gender identity because it has always fully supported its gay employees.

She was very sympathetic and supportive. I don't think she was just humoring me, but you never know.

I thought about sending her a photo of myself en femme to show that I am presentable, but I hesitated to do so because I did not think it was the right thing to do at this time.

I did send her information about the bill in our state legislature that she was unaware of concerning the extension of the state's non-discrimination laws to cover transgenders.

And so it goes.

Transgender Health and Law Conference

Yesterday, I attended Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition's annual Transgender Lives, The Intersection of Health and Law Conference at the UConn Health Center in Farmington, CT. I never saw so many tall women and short men in one place at one time!

Kidding aside, it was a great conference. I worked the registration table most of the morning, so I had an opportunity to meet many of the attendees. One hundred ninety-five had preregistered and there were approximately 35 walk-ins, so attendance was about 230, which is a 43% increase in attendance over last year's 160.

The crowd was evenly divided between women and men; there also was a good representation of our allies.

After my work was done, I ate lunch with Tanya, Melissa, and Vickie. I met Tanya at Fantasia Fair last October; she reads this blog religiously, so here's a shout-out to Tanya! Melissa and Vickie were new acquaintances. We all had a nice discussion over lunch.

After lunch, I attended one workshop in the afternoon concerning transgenders in the workplace. The presenters are involved in CABO, the Connecticut Alliance for Business Opportunities, LGBT Chamber of Commerce. Coming from an employer's perspective, they evangelized the hiring of LGBTs.

Most of the audience had an employee perspective, so members of the audience talked about their concerns. The discussion was so interesting that the session ran over its allotted time.

I stopped by CABO's booth afterwards and continued the discussion. I was so motivated by it all that I am seriously considering pursuing the establishment of an LGBT group at work for the good of my LGBT co-workers as well as myself.

I had been up since 4:45 AM, had worked hard in heels all morning, and by mid-afternoon, I was too pooped to Polka, so I left the premises at 2:30 PM after having a very rewarding day.

(I apologize for running the same candid photo as I ran yesterday, but hands down, it beats all of my posed photos taken at the conference. And again, thank you Jamie Dailey for taking some photos without twisting your arm!)

When a staffer switches genders

Here is a nice article about my friend Tony and gender-switching on the job, in general.

transgenders need advocacy at work

Two University of Oregon doctoral students dove into issues of transgender identities — in the workplace and professional counselling — and surfaced with a call for psychologists and vocational counsellors to not only treat but to act as advocates for their clients — and to help end discrimination in the workplace.

Read the rest of the story here.

Please Take A Survey For Trans Equality!

We Need Your Help To Assure Equality in '09!

Anti-Discrimination Protections can be just a House Vote away and your voice is needed so

Click Here to Take Survey

In 2009 we will be looking to raise and pass the Gender Identity and Expression Anti-Discrimination Bill. But we can't do it without you...

Click Here to Take Survey

Ct TransAdvocacy and the Anti-Discrimination Coalition members are working now to raise and PASS in 2009, the Connecticut Gender Identity and Gender Expression Anti-Discrimination legislation! We are optimistic in our efforts in 2009, however we will only be able to do this with strong support and sweat equity from each and every one of you. As we all know from prior years, our stories, our talking to legislators, our Lobby Day and our calls and letters go a long way in moving each of our individual legislators to support this bill and to assure it passes as raised and not amended in any way. Since there are 151 members in the Connecticut House of Representatives your help is critically needed since we need to assure that many of them hear our stories and willing to support raising and passing of this legislation in '09!

So please complete the following survey and let us know how you can help assure that Connecticut passes a Gender Identity and Gender Expression anti-discrimination bill in '09!.

Click Here to Take Survey

What is the Gender Identity and Expression Bill?

The Gender Identity and Expression Anti-discrimination Bill clarifies and updates Connecticut' s non-discrimination laws to ensure that they clearly and uniformly protect all people regardless of their gender identity or expression by simply adding the phrase "gender identity and expression", as defined in Connecticut' s "Hate Crime law", to all statutes that address discrimination.

From both a priori and empirical studies it is well known that gender non-conforming people experience widespread discrimination in Connecticut. Your support of this bill is vital and is needed to protect transgender and gender non-conforming individuals from being fired, denied basic housing, denied credit and most basic services.

Currently, a number of major Connecticut Corporations (e.g. Aetna, The Hartford, IBM, Pfizer, ESPN, Chubb) as well as small businesses have explicit policies prohibiting discrimination based on ones gender identity and expression as well as employing Transgender and gender non-conforming individuals.

Whenever this bill (SB 1044 or HB 5723; Click links for bill details) has come up for a vote in Committee's or the Senate, it has passed overwhelmingly with Bi-Partisan support. However, we cannot take this strong support for granted and your help this coming session will be vital to assure the bill is raised and passed, without any amendments, in both the House and Senate of the Connecticut General Assembly.

This bill is NOT about Special Rights but rather simply about assuring Basic Human Rights for all those who are discriminated against because of their Gender identity or Expression!

What is the Anti-Discrimination Coalition?

The Anti-Discrimination Coalition (ADC) is comprised of individuals and local, regional and national organizations interested in ensuring that any people vulnerable to discrimination are given equal protection under the law. Currently, because Connecticut has no law prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or expression in education, housing, employment, credit, or public accommodation we are working to pass a bill that will include the phrase "gender identity or expression" in Connecticut' s non-discrimination law. The ADC is working collectively with individuals and agencies to create permanent systemic change to strengthen all of our communities.

If you are interested in our work and would like more information on how you or your organization can fight for equality for all Connecticut citizens, please contact Amy Miller at amiller@cwealf. org

if I became a man, would you pay me more?

Catherine Price writes in today's edition of broadsheet, "Researchers from the University of Chicago and New York University looked at the experiences of transgender people in the workforce -- that is, people who had either transitioned from male to female or female to male -- and analyzed how their gender switch affected their pay. The result, as Time puts it, 'suggests that raw discrimination still remains potent in U.S. companies.'"

Read all about it here.

What Has Sex Got to Do With It, Ex-Man Asks Court

This is an excellent commentary by Ann Woolner. I highly recommend reading it.

Judge by Job Performance, Not Gender Identity

Majority of Americans Agree That Transgender Employees Should Be Judged by Job Performance, Not Gender Identity

According to a recent national survey, seven out of ten heterosexual adults (71%) agree that how an employee performs at their job should be the standard for judging an employee, not whether or not they are transgender.

Read all about it here.