Beyond the binary: an interview with a transmasc non-binary employee

February is LGBTQ+ history month, and this year marks the 50th anniversary of the first Pride event in the UK. As well as celebrating the momentous achievements over the last half a century, this is a time to reflect on the current issues faced within the community, identifying areas that still need to be addressed. Unfortunately, discrimination against LGBTQ+ members within the workplace is still prevalent and is as stark as 90% of transgender workers reporting some form of harassment or mistreatment on the job, 53% of LGBTQ+ employees reporting hearing lesbian or gay jokes at work, and 10% leaving a job because they did not feel accepted at work. With 65% of transgender employees reporting hiding their trans status at work, we must host conversations discussing the barriers in place for members of the LGBTQ+ community to learn how we can make the workplace as inclusive as possible.

We were fortunate enough to interview a transmasc non-binary employee working for a market research company in London, discussing their experiences and the challenges they faced, and it went a little something like this:

Firstly, thank you so much for your time today. Would you mind by starting off giving a brief introduction to yourself?

Thank you for speaking to me. So I am a transmasc non-binary person working for a market research company in London. What this means is that as a non-binary individual, I identify with a gender outside of the “male-female” binary, and this differs from gender presentation, so how I choose to express myself, which for me this is masculine. Growing up, I knew I was transgender, but because of societal pressures, it took a long time for me to unpack what this meant, and to express myself in a way that is comfortable for me. I graduated during the pandemic and was transitioning as I looked for graduate roles, and I am now in a place where I am fully transparent about being transgender, but it took a lot of confidence to be able to do so, especially within the workplace.

You mentioned that you were transitioning as you started your career, how was that? And do you think that these two factors impacted each other?

So yeah, I finished university during the pandemic and was trying (and struggling) to find graduate roles throughout the pandemic. I would definitely say that both impacted each other in terms of my mental health, which was made worse by the pandemic, as I was struggling with anxiety at the time. When looking for jobs, the culture of the company was really important to me as I wanted to ensure that I would be working for a company with good values and inclusivity policies.

Throughout your experience transitioning what were the difficulties you faced?

Transitioning in the UK is really difficult. It’s hard getting support from the NHS, and often trans healthcare is ignored because doctors aren’t educated on this. A big issue is that if you want hormone therapy, it can be up to a 5-year waiting list just for your first consultation, and if you’re under 18 you will need the support of your parents. The alternative is going private, which is really expensive, but fortunately, I am in a position where I am old enough and financially stable enough to do so.

Post socially transitioning, do you have a favorite memory?

Definitely the day I started hormones, knowing I would soon be able to express myself more freely.

Moving onto your experiences within the workplace, would/have you disclosed being transgender in a job application? If so/not, why?

When I applied for roles I switched between clicking “male” and “other” as often non-binary isn’t an option so I try to go for the closest option. I’d go for “male” because this is how I want to be viewed, but I don’t necessarily feel comfortable selecting this. Personally, I can find “other” dehumanizing because it just lumps together “anything else”, if non-binary was an option this would have to include multiple gender identities, as non-binary is an umbrella term. From my experience, most applications are not inclusive enough in their options for selecting a gender.

Have you faced any struggles in the workplace, and what impact has this had?

So when I was hired I used my preferred name, and from the get-go, the company knew that my legal name was different from the name I gave. However, prior to the interview, there was nowhere to disclose this. Ideally, when I applied, there would have been the option to write my preferred name and legal name, and this would also be ideal for cis-gendered candidates who go by their middle name or a name that isn’t their legal name as many people do.

In my interview, I was misgendered and did not feel comfortable correcting the interviewer, and then when I started, I introduced myself with my pronouns, but I was frequently misgendered to the extent that I considered leaving the job after only a few weeks. I had to bring in HR and we had a meeting with my supervisor, although it helped, I felt uncomfortable that I had to get so many people involved.

Have you ever felt as though you have had people’s ideas of you projected onto yourself in the workplace?

A few times I have been in situations where stupid jokes have been made that segregate men and women, and within this, I have been grouped with the women, which all in all just made me very uncomfortable due to the nature of the jokes and also the disrespect to my gender identity.

Has there been anything meaningful a team member/manager has done to support you?

Since speaking to the HR team, they have now introduced asking for pronouns before the interview, and they have asked us to add these to our signatures at the end of emails. I’m happy these changes have been made for new employees to feel included and respected.

What can be done in the workplace to make Gender Non-Conforming people feel more comfortable?

When I was in the interview process, I did not feel comfortable introducing myself with my pronouns, but a way around this is if the interviewer either asks for them, on introduces themselves with theirs as this makes it an open and comfortable space. Alternatively, If the interview is online you could ask before if they can add their pronouns by their name. Pronouns can also be added to the end of names in meetings, email signatures, and Linkedin profiles. Then mainly just respecting this and making sure you support transgender staff, and if you mess up their pronouns, apologies, take ownership, and move on!

 Author: Emma Bluck (Marketing and Scientific Communications Lead)