Milestone at Work

Thursday, the Day of Remembrance, turned out to be a really good day at the office.  First, some background:

It was time for my periodic background check – it’s part of work, I don’t want to get into more details.  Happens every 5 years.  The point is to be really really honest and straightforward, and not have done anything illegal.  So, no problem.

So, I’m filling out the form, merrily chugging along, and I come to the standard question:  What other names have you used?

Oh.

Hm, probably needs a different answer than the last times.  I used to answer “none”.  So, how to lay the groundwork for this?

First, talked to S, my team lead.  Yep, she agrees, honesty is called for. Well, these forms are gonna go to security, so we’ll probably need to schedule a meeting with them about this odd entry.  And Human Resources (HR).  Wait, but we need to talk to M (department manager) before we go talking to all these other parts of the company.
So, S gets her and me in to see M early Thurs morning.  S doesn’t tell M what the meeting is about, just that it’s a “personal” matter. 

So, I get there first, and M and I start to talk, and I open with “okay, so, I just want to say right off that I’m not dying and I’m not quitting”.  M laughs and says, “okay, great, whatever it is can’t be bad then”.  So I just come right out and say “Well, I’m transsexual, and I’m planning on making the big switch and living as a woman starting next summer – July-August timeframe.” 
“Okay.”

Then I explained about why I was telling her now – about the alternate name on the security forms, and that she needed to know in case someone asked.  S pipes in that she’s had more conversations with HR, and they’re actively at work writing/revising a policy to handle transitions in the company.  Probably more excitement than HR has had in quite a while. 

So, that was about it really. The company has a consultant they bring in to help talk to the rest of the department, I’d be there, do some Q & A (or as we like to call it, “Trans 101”).  M stressed that the company really does highly value what they call “Quality of Life” – and this falls in that category.  So, how things would go with the customer I’m working with is another matter, but we don’t need to go there for a few more months. 

The funny part was, I kind of said that I hope this wasn’t too much trouble for everyone, and S & M both laughed and said something like “oh this is nothing! You have no idea how much trouble we have with some other folks”  which is a worrisome idea, if you think about it.  We have a couple of folks with some medical issues, but I’m guessing that we have some folks that just must be royal pains in the butt.  That’s why I don’t like management.

So, all in all, it was great.  Really good. 
 

I’ll choose to take it as a sign that we’re making progress into equal rights.  maybe slowly (given the votes in CA and other states), but progress.