Transgender employee’s work transition letter |
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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: 9/19/2011Dear ___,
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.Respectfully Submitted,
___
Further reading:
Work transition for transsexual and transgender people
http://www.tsroadmap.com/reality/jobtrans.html