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Wednesday, 13 August 2008 10:23
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 Former Attorney Tackles Workplace Issues,
FTM Borderlands and Transphobia
Jacob Anderson-Minshall
When Dr. Jillian T. Weiss first began accepting her transsexuality, she admits, “I didn’t really have the courage to transition on the job. Nobody I knew at the time had done it, and I didn’t anticipate that it would be successful.”
A decade later, Weiss shepherds others through that very process, advising employers and trans workers alike on successfully managing workplace issues like transitioning on the job—which she argues is still “one of the most difficult situations.”
 The former attorney knows first hand how workplace discrimination can impact trans employees. Told her services would no longer be required soon after she was “a little indiscrete” in revealing her gender issues to a secretary, Weiss was left wondering, “Maybe something in my behavior or my speech, perhaps, made them uncomfortable.”
“It wasn’t as if they’d said, ‘We’re going to fire you because you’re transgender,’” Weiss recalls. “I didn’t really know what their reasoning was.”
She recommends that, in addition to thoroughly researching the topic, employees broach it with their human resources department—confidentially—well in advance of their transition.
“It’s not just a matter of acceptance,” she maintains. “It’s understanding that policy is beast unto itself and you have to plan everything, from how are insurance benefits handled…[to] are there security clearance issues?’ There’re so many things to think about.”
Based on her experience in the field, Transgender Workplace Diversity, provides the kind of guidelines Weiss offers during consulting gigs—for a fraction of the price. (She kids that she penned the book for those who couldn’t afford consulting fees.)
A second edition will be out in the coming year. In the meantime, Weiss runs the Transgender Workplace Diversity blog (transworkplace.blogspot.com) and is launching a series of workshops on workplace issues; the first of which will be held November 14th in New York City.
Joking that she’s “in every single category,” Weiss says she identifies as a woman and a transsexual, (“but I do use the term transgender, particularly for people who are not aware of the various types of identities that exist in the community”) and says she doesn’t mind being identified as gay—after all her current partner is female, “and I plan to stay with her the rest of my life”—but she identifies as bisexual.
In addition to addressing workplace issues, Weiss has written several research articles about interactions between the trans and lesbian and/or gay communities. One asserts that what historian Jacob Hale described as ‘FTM borderlands,’ in the lesbian community “still exists. However,” Weiss acknowledges, “[there’s] a generational divide. If you look at the writing of younger people…there’s a lot more fluidity—and acceptance of fluidity—for sexual orientation and gender presentation and gender identity. This borderland is slowly beginning to fade. It’s not gone yet, [but] younger people’s understanding of what it means to be a lesbian and what it means to be FTM is changing from its meaning in previous generations.”
Weiss also examined the roots of lesbian and gay trans- and bi-“phobia,” determining something more insidious was at work: “My analysis indicates that it’s based on political division, and…internalized homophobia. It’s a rejection by gays and lesbians of more radical forms of gay and lesbian sexuality…[Those] who are saying, ‘Gays are different from transgender people’ are attempting to buy their freedom, so to speak, by saying, ‘We’re the normal ones!’ It’s trying to scapegoat a particular portion of the community in an attempt to escape discrimination. That has never worked in the past with any identity group. It’s a totally failed policy, but some people are clinging to it.”
Also a scholar of law and sexuality, Weiss believes there’s a revolution brewing in regard to how courts view sexuality—it’s being recognized as a matter of privacy. “It’s not about what you have the right to do behind closed shades,” Weiss clarifies. “ It’s about what right you have to lead your life publicly…making certain private decisions. It’s not about the right to live in the closet; it’s saying that if you are gay…if you’re transgender, you have the right to make that decision and the government may not interfere. That’s the direction we’re going in; [but] there’s a lot of work to be done. The battle has just begun.”
Her latest research project was sparked by efforts in Gainesville Florida, where a campaign to overturn sexual orientation and gender identity protections is based on the contention that sexual predators could take advantage these laws to invade women’s locker rooms. Weiss hopes to survey locales where nondiscrimination ordinances are in place to determine how many (if any) of these incidences have actually occurred.
The work Weiss has taken on, she says is not something that one person can really tackle alone. Instead, she argues, it takes “many, many individuals. It’s not something that should be reserved to people who are quote activists or…academics or scholars. The way to do [it] is simply to—in your own life—come forward and…educate people about issues of sexual orientation and gender identity. Ultimately that’s what’s going to change society. A lot of transgender people are concerned about standing up too tall or too proud in society, fearing that they’ll be the target of violence and ridicule. I think that’s what needs to change. [In order] to change society we need to stand up and be counted.”
If you are willing to stand up and do some counting, Weiss wants your help. She’s seeking everyday folks to assist with her current research. If you’re interested, contact her at
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Tune in to Portland, Oregon’s KBOO radio, August 26th 6-6:30 pm PST as trans writer Jacob Anderson-Minshall (
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) joins Trannywreck Radio’s Rebecca Nay to co-host the pilot episode of their new radio show, Gender Blender, streaming live at KBOO.fm.
© 2008 Jacob Anderson-Minshall
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