I had lunch yesterday with a wonderful woman who was once a city council member and transitioned way back in the mid-80s as a very high-profile person in my city. As a former deputy mayor and former head of my now department, I reached out to her, fairly randomly, to see if she had any advice to me.
She was FANTASTIC. She allayed a lot of my fears, which was wonderful. Boy do I look up to her. What a pioneer! And to do something in such a public manner - she's the Christine Jorgensen (or Renee Richards) of Minnesota!
We talked about how to approach coming out at work. She said that there were many allies that I'd have in my department if I wanted them. And she said it would definitely be safe to come out to my boss w/o having HR involved directly, but she did recommend that I should contact HR right after coming out to my boss so that I have my bases covered. She did not feel that I would find much difficulty.
So, to that end, I'm going to come out to one of my friends here at work on Monday. He's someone she suggested would be a good ally, and someone I really like and trust. And then, once there's a plan in place, as far as surgery times, I'll come out to my boss and HR and then they can figure out a protocol, if there isn't one already. I'll take off for surgery as "old name" and return from surgery as "me" and all will be well in the world. By the time I come back (I'm taking two weeks off) they'll be able to change my email and my business cards etc....
And, the sweetest thing that this woman said to me was that I should put her on my list of people to call if some thing, for some reason, goes wrong, and she'll make some phone calls for me and remind people that I have the law on my side.
What a great lunch and what a great person!
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