The gender maze

Last week I talked about Transgender Cultural Competency Training and the benefits associated with getting it for any organization within the sectors of healthcare, business, government, outreach, and education.

This is training that I offer at a sliding scale and this week I’ll be going more in depth into the topics that are covered in it. If someone would like to schedule a training, they may contact me via email!

The presentation I give is on Prezi and called “The Gender Maze.” The entirety of my training is about teaching people the why of things, so they don’t have to remember answers, but rather can think critically and solve issues that come up. The training itself, beyond the words on a screen, is full of my own stories, humor, and passion for the subject.

The presentation is divided into four distinct parts, with the first part covering education about gender. This part goes over the gender unicorn learning tool, which talks about gender identity, expression, and sex assigned at birth. I teach what it is like for a trans person, why a person would identify in any such way, and the history behind all of it. This creates a foundation for understanding and enables us to explore more complex gender identities.

The second part then goes into great detail about the various identities under the transgender umbrella, what it looks like as a medical condition, how long it has been around, and the various needs and costs of transitioning. This section helps individuals understand why someone would identify as transgender and what they would go through to achieve balance in their life.

From there we go into the various hardships someone faces because of being transgender. This section is tailored to the organization where presentation is being given, so if we were giving it at a homeless shelter we’d talk about how 30% of trans people experience homelessness in their lives, or that 23% of trans people are evicted because of housing discrimination.

70% of trans individuals report having a negative experience while staying in a homeless shelter. We’d talk about the 28% who avoid them altogether because of fear of mistreatment. Then finally we’d go over local state laws and/or issues relevant to our state. I’ll go over all of this, while sharing my own experiences and the experiences I hear from our community.

The purpose of that section is to educate individuals on the problems that routinely occur within their organizations, so they can be aware enough to look for them. Most organizations lack an understanding or awareness of the issues that do occur and are therefore unable to self-assess their needs. This is why companies tend to be caught off guard when situations occur.

The consequences can be as small as losing a customer and as big has facing a lawsuit with very bad press. In the middle we see higher turnover, a smaller hiring pool, and incredibly awkward situations when there is no protocol for how to handle a transgender person’s needs.

Further, trying to ignore this population only exacerbates the consequences, as more and more people are coming out to be their authentic selves and more states are adopting proactive anti-discrimination laws.

Finally, I talk about the various models and strategies that individuals and companies can employ to reduce the possibility of negative consequences. This again depends on the organization I’m talking to, but often covers things like updating intake documents, having clear written policy and protocol around transgender issues, and strategies for using correct pronouns.

Ultimately, what I teach as the most important concept in understanding this community is to understand that each trans person is moving towards what puts them in balance. The most important concept when interacting with this community is trust.

Trans people go into situations expecting the worst. They expect to be ignored, not respected, or even to experience violence. They expect that they could be evicted from a home or fired from their job for being trans. They expect that cops are not their friends. When serving this community it is essential to establish trust.

During the entire presentation I say that it is okay to make honest mistakes, because we all do it. I don’t demand that people be perfect, because this stuff is complicated. What most trans people want isn’t perfection, but to be listened to, respected, and worked with.

[Editor’s note: Faye Seidler is North Dakota Safe Zone Project Spokeswoman]