I watched a video on YouTube this morning entitled “I Was Fired for Being Transgender”; where a transgender man told his story of being discriminated against, and fired by his employer, for his transgender status. I was fascinated as he openly shared with the Internet and the world his positive experience with employment in different states and employers before encountering an employer who was not so accepting. His masculine outward appearance did not give any indication that he had been born female. It was after his new employer shared their personal story, that he shared his website (including bio) and they became aware that he was transgender. The next day at work was quiet and awkward and little was said. Shortly thereafter, he arrived at work and was met with a locked door. The employer stuck their head out to reference an email terminating his employment for non-compliance of an unnamed provision of the company handbook. No further explanation was given.
This got me thinking for a moment about the power of the Internet. Our culture has shifted drastically since the Internet’s inception. The Internet is more than cat videos and memes and has provided a powerful tool for marginalized members of our society to organize and share their experiences and stories. The traditional remedies we think of for employer discrimination, like lawsuits and EEOC complaints, can be prohibitively expensive and time consuming. It is often true that minority citizens do not have the financial resources to pursue a drawn out legal battle with employers with bigger resources. Their stories often go unheard and contribute to our perception that discrimination is not happening because we’re not hearing about it.
Perhaps due to the increased visibility of transgender Americans this year, many are increasingly more comfortable with speaking out and sharing their stories. The gentleman in the video I watched today was discreet and did not name his employer, but he did call for others who have experienced discrimination to record their own videos and share their own stories and others may be less discreet.
As employers we are careful to protect our company reputations, and with good reason thanks to viral videos and Twitter. Company reputations are vulnerable to rapid changes in public perception which can directly impact bottom lines. Websites like Glassdoor.com allow current and previous employees to share anonymous reviews of what working for their employers is really like and I found myself using it to check potential employers when I was last in the job market. Reviews, citing lack of diversity or toxic management styles, led to me deciding I didn’t want to apply to those companies after all. Organizations like HRC (Human Rights Campaign) have indexes measuring company commitments and action on LGBTQ equality on a scale of 1-100.
The Internet is not a new frontier for information surrounding employers, but you can bet that as Millennials continue to grow as the largest employed generation that they will continue to use their Internet savvy to research information about prospective employers with a few taps on their smartphones. As employers become more competitive over top talent, they should consider whether the face they present to prospective employees matches what those prospects may find on the Internet or hear via word of mouth.
Training and consulting for employers and organizations wanting to improve their LGBTQ cultural competency is available in Colorado through RANGE Consulting. Contact Johnny Humphrey at jhumphrey@lgbtqcolorado.org for more information.