By C.S., Iowa City
I just wanted to talk about trans women in the workplace in Iowa City. It’s not something we see very much of. We do see a ton of Pride flags, and signs that read “trans people belong in Iowa.”
As a trans woman having lived here for close to four years, from the experiences I’ve had at the two jobs some people were nice enough to give me, I can say I experienced a huge amount of discrimination at those jobs, along with constant harassment. Ironically one of these places has signs on the wall that read something along the lines of “We accept all genders, we accept all religions, we accept all races.” At the other, I was called a crossdresser and fired after a customer claimed I misgendered them, which quite frankly I may have by accident. I certainly apologized. This is yet another venue that puts up signs (but only during Pride Month) that read “Trans people belong in Iowa.”
It’s quite insulting and rather frustrating to see these places using our community to apparently boast about how “inclusive” or “woke” they are or whatever, and then not ever hire a noticeably trans woman. Not that I’m very noticeable. I “pass” very well most of the time, and I do my best to fit in. So they have other reasons. And they aren’t nice ones.
Now I’ve been back in the job market for just over a year. I do well in a lot of interviews and I’ve even been hired for a few jobs. But as soon as they figure out that I am transgender, they will rescind the job offers. They usually find out once my Social Security number has been scanned and comes back with my dead name, or when some of the hiring paperwork requires me to use my legal (dead) name. Then, suddenly, as quickly as I was hired, I am fired.
Why don’t I still work at those places where they discriminated against me and harassed me about my gender regularly, you ask? That’s a dumb question.
The thing is that I’m not the only one. I talk to other trans women. Many of them struggle with finding work as well. Some of them talk to lots of other trans women, even more than me, and report the same problem. So when will Iowa City businesses stop using us and our community to make themselves look good and feel good about themselves? When will they actually help us to survive?
It’s hard out there in this world for women like us, much harder than most people care to acknowledge. So, when will we see ourselves represented in the workplace in this town? And when can I expect to stop getting turned down for every job I am very qualified for after nailing an interview?
I wish I had the answers to these questions, but the track record with Iowa City isn’t great. Trans people belong in Iowa you say? Prove it.
