Since I work in the Swedish Armed Forces workplace issues is of course of great interest for me. I think many in my situation to some degree are worried about this. Some choose to change their line of work completely and other decide to remain and need find a way to approach transitioning at work. Lately I do a lot of work with international partners and to me it feels important to know a little bit of the climate in the respective countries. I know that the risk is that I have some prejudices about how people I meet may see me but I still find it interesting.
One important recognition is that a former Army Special Former commander has won a lawsuit for discrimination. Diane Shroder applied for a job as a senior terrorism analyst at the Library of Congress but was declined the job after the employer learned about her transition.
Another is Breanna L. Speed who have experienced nothing but support in her transition while working as a database administrator. Yet another example is Christine Daniels who works as journalist at the LA Times Sports department.
I also just can’t help saying something about the young and very beautiful Kim Petras who at age 16 is having great success as a singer in Germany. She also has a transsexual background. Makes me almost as happy as when Dana International won the Eurovision Song Contest. When it comes to Kim the beutiful part is to read about the support she has from her parents.
Finally, we have the “Don’t ask – Don’t Tell”-policy of the US Armed Forces which relates to me as a lesbian woman. Former Navy Captain Joan Darrah worked at the Pentagon as an intelligence officer and reading about her experiences related to the 911 tragedy. She tells about the fact that if she had stayed a little longer in that particular room there wouldn’t have been any phone call to her partner that she had been injured or killed since now one at work know anything about her partner. Because of the law many cards of “who to call in case of emergency” have very relevant blanks. See her statement at the Congress in this YouTube clip. Even if we don’t have this kind of law in Sweden I bet there are members of our Armed Forces who not yet have told anyone at work and their cards will also have blanks.