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Michelle successfully transitioned at a large freight company and wanted to share her letter to her employers. Some identifying information has been removed upon request.
Confidential
To: ___, Service Center Manager ,
CC: ___, Director of Human Resources,
From: ___, Freight Operations Manager,
Subject: Notice of Transition
Date: 9/19/2011
Dear ___,
I am sure that upon reading this notice you will think that this letter is a prank as you already know my
history in the [military], [police], and the Freight Industry, I assure you it is not. In addition, before you read
the below I would like to emphasize that I love my position as Freight Operations Manager for my FAC
Operation, I love working for ___ ___ and I enjoy working for you in particular. With that said:
The purpose of this letter is to inform you of my current personal status. I have told you since January
of this year that I was working on myself. I have told you about going to therapy, going to church and
you have noticed my weight loss. The part I did not tell you is that I have a condition known as Gender
Identity Disorder, a condition that I have had since my earliest childhood memories. You may know this
better as transsexualism and the only known treatment for this condition is to transition to the opposite
sex which I am already in the process of doing.
This condition has caused me insufferable pain for my entire life and has impacted my life on several
levels. In January of this year I finally sought and found professional help for my condition at a
professional therapy center known as “___” that strictly follows the WPATH standards of care
for transgendered health. I began living full-time as a female (outside of work) on February 7th and I
began hormonal treatment from a medical doctor on May 3rd of this year. On September 2th my name
was legally changed to ___ and I have already obtained my new SSN card and Drivers
License in the appropriate name and gender. My last step before my eventual gender confirming surgery
is to transition at work for the purpose of fulfilling a one year period of living in the corrective gender to
qualify for the surgery.
While my dream would be that my transition would be a non-event, reality dictates differently as I have
never heard of a person in my position, with my responsibilities, transitioning in the freight industry
to the opposite gender which is why I am giving notice before changing gender at work. I am going
to send this letter to Mr. ___ in addition to you as my transition will have to be handled properly
in order to obtain the least amount of workforce disruption as possible and a plan has to be made. I
remain flexible but I would like to be myself NLT Monday October 3.
I look forward to working with you and Mr. ___ , together or separately to plan for this event as soon
as possible. ___, I know this is a shock to you, however, once the shock of my transition is over I
guarantee you that my efforts will not be degraded. I am prepared for resistance and I know that I will
have to take my leadership role to the next level. I am prepared to do that; my work will not suffer, not
to mention I am not changing my leadership style what-so-ever because, quite simply, it works.
I am also open to any suggestions that you or Mr. ___ may have to ensure that we keep any
workforce disruption to a minimum.
TransYouth Family Allies has been helping transgender and gender-variant children and their families since 2006. Between now and the end of the year, TYFA is raising money needed for the huge influx of families with young people, and they could use your help with a one-time or recurring donation.
Here’s an overview of the work TYFA does:
TYFA Executive Director Kim Pearson discusses her work, and her first-hand experience helping her adolescent transgender son:
TYFA President Shannon Garcia discussesher work, and her first-hand experience helping her transgender daughter transition socially at age six:
TYFA exists to help transgender and gender-variant children like Josie. Your help with make sure other young people like Josie are respected and celebrated:
In a significant development for the rights of transgender and gender non-conforming youth, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health has taken a clear stance against “treatment” aimed at trying to change a young person’s gender identity and expression to become more congruent with sex assigned at birth. According to Version 7, released today, such action by psychologists “is no longer considered ethical.”
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (September 25, 2011)-The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) will release a newly-revised edition of the Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People, on September 25, 2011 at the WPATH conference in Atlanta.
The SOC is considered the standard document of reference on caring for the transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming population. The newly-revised SOC will help health professionals better understand how they can offer the most effective care to these individuals. The SOC focuses on primary care, gynecologic and urologic care, reproductive options, voice and communication therapy, mental health services and hormonal and surgical treatment.
“The latest 2011 revisions to the SOC realize that transgender, transsexual, and gender nonconforming people have unique health care needs to promote their overall health and well-being, and that those needs extend beyond hormonal treatment and surgical intervention,” said SOC Committee Chair, Eli Coleman, PhD, Professor and Director at Program in Human Sexuality, University of Minnesota.
This is the seventh version of the Standards of Care. The original SOC were published in 1979. Previous revisions occurred in 1980, 1981, 1990, 1998 and 2001.
“The previous versions of the SOC were always perceived to be about the things that a trans person must do to satisfy clinicians, this version is much more clearly about every aspect of what clinicians ought to do in order to properly serve their clients. That is a truly radical reversal . . . one that serves both parties very well,” said Christine Burns, SOC International Advisory Committee Member.
More than any other version, 2011 revisions also recognize that gender nonconformity in and of itself is not a disorder and that many people live comfortable lives without having to seek therapy or medical interventions for gender confusion or unhappiness.
This version provides more detailed clinical guidelines to address the health care needs of children, adolescents, and adults with gender dysphoria who need assistance with psychological, hormonal, or surgical care.
In addition to clearly articulating the collaborative relationship needed between transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming individuals and health care providers, the new, 2011 revisions provide for new ways of thinking about how cultural relativity and culture competence.
The document includes a call to advocacy for professionals to promote public policies and legal reforms that promote tolerance and equity for gender and sexual diversity. This document recognizes that well-being is not obtained through quality health care alone but a social climate that eliminates of prejudice, discrimination, and stigma and promotes a positive and tolerant society that embraces sexual and gender diversity.
The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), formerly known as the (Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, HBIGDA), is a professional organization devoted to the understanding and treatment of gender identity disorders. As an international multidisciplinary professional Association the mission of WPATH is to promote evidence based care, education, research, advocacy, public policy and respect in transgender health.
This is talk, not advice. See Terms of Use for details.
Lawyer Christine Michelle Duffy has written an approachable, pragmatic guide to work transition from the perspective of corporate legal counsel and human resources personnel.
This heavily-footnoted document is a must-read for anyone planning to transition at work. It may also be helpful to provide it to the key human resources person at your company.
Erin sent this note about passing and acceptance, which I wanted to share. Transition is a leap of faith that everything will work out. Many people fear making that leap because they want everything to be perfect. There’s a fine line between being realistic about expectations and being paralyzed by fear. Worry about the things you can change, and don’t worry about the rest. Your feelings about yourself and the attitude you show others will be major factors in how people treat you.
Here’s Erin’s note in its entirety:
“Passing" and “Acceptance.”
We know they are two different things.
Here is my experience on it:
So as I am basically poor, I cannot really afford things like SRS or FFS. I can get by without FFS honestly. Not that I have a striking female face but it is convincing enough as is.
Anyways, the things that no surgery could really fix is my large frame. Yes, I am built like an out of shape linebacker.
at 5’9” and 220 pounds, I won’t be asked to model for Victoria Secret anytime soon.
Anyways, I do what I can. Two things that I did were change my legal name (Nicole Erin Lastname) and my voice is now trained to sound like a woman. Never does anyone on the phone call me “sir” and they always ask for (my male name) and if I am his wife. Not sure if auto-erotica counts for being my own “wife” but anyways…
Everyone knows me as Erin. yes I know the whole Aaron VS Erin but I like Erin. It is truly “me”.
Anyways so my experience is that except for the rudest people out there, no one else gives me a hard time. Once people learn my name and hear my voice, I am “she”. I find it interesting cause with my features, they have GOT to know I am genetically male. Yet they treat me as female.
So for the assimilation process, I feel that changing my name and training my voice have been the two best things that have helped me along. Well that and my awesome fashion sense (I dress “chic") While “passing without question” would be great, it is just not going to happen for me. I will not let that stop me from living as a woman.
But what is living as a woman? To me it means presenting as a woman, and working, having a job. I caught a break and have a job. Nothing big, but of course with a company, Home Depot, who is very much against discrimination.
I think for my sisters out there who fear going full time cause “not everything is perfect “ yet, I would say “do not let that stop you”.
Even if someone, like myself, cannot afford fancy procedures, there are cheap or free ways around certain things. My beard removal involves tweezers, a desk light, and a magnifying mirror (then shaving the rest when I get lazy) but it is smooth.
I think the most important thing I have done though is I don’t make an issue of being TS or woman.
Sure dating is always an issue, but it is for any TS. Even the best looking post-op eventually has to “come out”.
Also, years ago I purchased your voice training program, and I hate to admit it took several years before I got off my butt to actually DO any of the things you said, but once I did, my voice changed. My one sentence summary of the lessons would be - “Learn to restrict the lower part of the voice then learn to fine-tune it”.
