Employment Breakfast - Managing Gender Transition in the Workplace

Event Materials

• Audio

Gender identity and expression issues impacting transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals were front and center in 2016, particularly in the contexts of education, sports, and public accommodations. Many employers are finding out that addressing the needs of transgender and gender non-conforming employees can have a very real impact in the workplace, too.

In our first breakfast seminar of 2017, our employment group discussed hot topics at the intersection of gender identity and employment law. These include transgender discrimination and harassment, bathroom/locker room accessibility, privacy, dress codes, names/pronouns, personnel documentation, health coverage for transitioning employees and inclusion policies and practices for transitioning employees.

We were pleased to also host Shane Diamond, Executive Director of Speak About It, Inc. as a guest speaker. Shane has overseen the performance and cast since graduating from Bowdoin College in 2010, where he spent four years playing women’s ice hockey and talking about sex. That’s right, Shane is trans. Under his leadership, Speak About It has performed for over 120,000 students at 75 high schools and universities across the country and around the world, sparking countless dialogues about consent education and sexual assault prevention. During this presentation, Shane will discuss what it’s like to come out as trans in the workplace, how to support trans coworkers, and where the heck everyone is supposed to pee. Shane lives in Portland, ME with his wife and their pup, Harvey, and can be found drinking fancy coffee, modeling bowties, and writing bad jokes.