{"id":1845,"date":"2015-09-07T15:41:04","date_gmt":"2015-09-07T19:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/?p=1845"},"modified":"2015-09-07T15:41:04","modified_gmt":"2015-09-07T19:41:04","slug":"perfect-trans-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/2015\/09\/perfect-trans-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"The Perfect \u201cTrans-storm\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Please see and use the many links featured in this blog to read additional details.<\/em>

\"Raffi<\/a>

Raffi Freedman Gurspan, the first openly transgender employee of the US White House (AP Photo \/ National Center for Transgender Equality)<\/p><\/div>
\nMany people are familiar with the term, \u201cThe perfect storm\u201d that describes an event where a rare combination of circumstances will impact a situation drastically. I truly believe we are now in \u201ca perfect storm\u201d for the fight for equality including workplace and health benefits for transgender people. Many positive recent happenings have now all aligned so that is there is a tremendous focus on understanding and appreciating this misunderstood and often maligned segment of our population.<\/p>\n

As a diversity consultant with a deep expertise in LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Diversity, when I have presented an LGBT Diversity workshops to Human Resources Professionals throughout 2015 (see my blog about this),<\/strong><\/a> a vast majority of questions during the Q and A time are about the transgender segment. Just last week I delivered a workshop titled \u201cCorporate and Organizational Support for Transgender People: The Whys and Hows\u201d at the monthly meeting of the HR Management Association of Greensboro<\/strong><\/a> (North Carolina) to a sold out crowd of over 150 engaged HR practitioners. Yes \u2013 we are not talking New York City nor San Francisco, but here in North Carolina! <\/p>\n

Here are the five items in chronological order which I believe have contributed to what I have termed this \u201cperfect trans-storm:\u201d<\/p>\n

1)\tThe 2009 \u201ccoming out\u201d of high profile celebrity Chas Bono,<\/strong><\/a> the child of pop singers Sonny and Cher. <\/p>\n

2)\tThe growing popularity of transgender television star Laverne Cox on the hit television show \u201cOrange is the New Black\u201d<\/strong><\/a> which premiered in 2013 and is still running. And this was followed in 2014 with a photo of Laverne Cox on the cover of Time Magazine with the story titled \u201cThe Transgender Tipping Point \u2013 America\u2019s Next Civil Rights Frontier.\u201d <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

3)\tThe executive order signed by US President Obama on July 21, 2014 making it illegal to fire or harass employees of federal contractors based on their sexual orientation or gender identity and explicitly adding discrimination against transgender employees within the federal government. Link to blog about this announcement.<\/strong><\/a> <\/p>\n

4)\tThe much publicized gender transition of Olympic champion Bruce Jenner to Caitlyn<\/strong><\/a> in July of this year.
\n\"SRHM<\/a><\/p>\n

5)\tOn August 19, 2015, The White house announcing the hiring of its first openly transgender staff member, Raffi Freedman-Gurspan,<\/strong><\/a> Outreach and Recruiter Director for Presidential Personnel. <\/p>\n

Coincidentally, the day I presented my workshop at the Greensboro SHRM (Society of Human Resource Management) chapter meeting, the September issue of the SHRM monthly \u201cHR Magazine\u201d was delivered to my home. And the cover story? \u201cThe New Face of Diversity \u2013 Transgender Employee Policies Are Gaining Support \u2013 Are You Ready?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Please see and use the many links featured in this blog to read additional details. Many people are familiar with the term, \u201cThe perfect storm\u201d that describes an event where a rare combination of circumstances will impact a situation drastically. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[157,906,338,860,721,907,198,909,908],"class_list":["post-1845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-info","tag-lgbt-diversity","tag-caitlyn-jenner","tag-chas-bono","tag-gender-transition","tag-laverne-cox","tag-raffi-fredman-gurspan","tag-transgender","tag-transgender-employee-policies","tag-transgender-staff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.totalengagementconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}