Paving the Way For Transgender Equality in Corporate America With Mary Ann Horton

My guest on this episode of Punk Rock HR is Dr. Mary Ann Horton, a transgender activist and the author of the book “Trailblazer: Lighting the Path for Transgender Equality in Corporate America.” We talk about her amazing career, how she advocated for one of the corporate world’s first transgender equality workplace policies, her book and her advice to HR leaders looking to be more inclusive.

Mary Ann has worked with many Fortune 500 companies to improve their HR policies and be more inclusive of the transgender community. She shares her advice for applying her strategies to your organization.?

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Pioneering Transgender-Inclusive Language in Corporate America

In 1997, Mary Ann was working at Lucent Technologies and had started to come out at work. She noticed that the HR department already had equal opportunity (EO) policies protecting gay and lesbian employees.?

“They touted that as a feature that sexual orientation was in the nondiscrimination policy, and I wanted that, too,” Mary Ann says. “So I asked Lucent, ‘Would it be possible to include transgender-inclusive language in the EO policy?’”

Lucent officials took months to respond, but the response was positive. Lucent had a request of its own: “If we did include transgender language in our EO policy, what language would we use in order to be as inclusive as possible?"?

Mary Ann consulted with activist friends and proposed that Lucent use the wording “gender identity characteristics and expressions.” Gender identity is “one's internal sense in their self about whether they're a man or a woman or possibly a nonbinary person, somewhere in between,” Mary Ann says. Gender expression refers to how other people see an individual socially.?

With Lucent’s backing and that specific language in place, the company amended its nondiscrimination policy on Oct. 28, 1997, with transgender-inclusive language. Mary Ann went further, persuading Lucent to also add coverage for transgender people in the company's health care plan.?

While those moves were revolutionary at the time, they’re relatively common now at large companies. “62% of Fortune 500 companies include transgender health benefits in their EO policies,” Mary Ann says. “And I think, the last I saw, it was 92% of the companies include trans language in their nondiscrimination policies.”

Focusing On The Needs of the Business?????

HR and other leaders play an important role in prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion within organizations and in normalizing the work experience for all employees, including transgender people.?

“If you've never met a trans person before, then you might have images in your head that come from controversial figures on the right or from whatever,” Mary Ann says. “But we don't all have fangs and fishnets. We're just regular boring people. Once you meet a real trans person, we're just a part of the great diversity of the world.”

Every employee just wants a safe place to work and contribute. “Once I learned that my role is to focus on the needs of the business, then I do that,” Mary Ann says. “I focus on the needs of the business, and management appreciates that. And I do it in a kind way that helps my co-workers, too, and my co-workers appreciate that I can help solve the problems of the business.”?????

After her time at Lucent, Mary Ann helped other large corporations adopt similar policies, including Apple, IBM, Xerox and American Airlines. Eventually, as the movement picked up, she could take a job at San Diego Gas & Electric, focus on her job “and enjoy living in paradise without having to do all the trans activism anymore.”

Her book is the culmination of those decades of work — and her personal journey. “it's a very nontraditional story, because I was coming out in the workplace long before I transitioned to full time,” she says.?

Years of giving seminars and workshops showed her that people appreciated personal stories, and that led her to write her memoir. “In part, it's a coming-of-age story that tells how I learned myself to be a transgender woman very, very gradually,” she says.?????????

How HR Can Support Transgender Employees Now

The best way to become more inclusive as an organization is by living that example, starting with corporate leadership and HR.?

“If management supports a particular trans person, either full-time in the new role or part-time in the new role, and says, ‘This person has my full support, and get on with your job and don't mess with the person,’ then it's going to happen,” Mary Ann says.

Companies looking to become more inclusive and diverse have a lot of leeway in the policies they set, as long as they follow federal law. And there’s help beyond just the law.

“You can look at OSHA, you can look to the EEOC, you can look at best practices in your industry, in human resources, and you can look at the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index,” Mary Ann says. HR leaders should also look to outside resources, conferences and workshops that help them connect with other HR professionals and LGBT+ experts who can help companies support their employees.?

“Whenever a decision is being made by a business, if the people making that decision are as diverse as possible, you'll get better decisions made,” Mary Ann says. “So you want all kinds of diversity, and that includes LGBTQ+.”

People in This Episode

Mary Ann Horton: LinkedIn, Book: "Trailblazer: Lighting the Path for Transgender Equality in Corporate America"

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