Supporting trans and nonbinary ornithologists: WOS2022 DEIJ recap

Trans pride flag with birds by Alex Holt.

This blog post is a little different than my previous ones. I recently was invited to facilitate a discussion for the 2022 Wilson Ornithological Society meeting on trans and nonbinary inclusion in ornithology, an opportunity I was hugely grateful for. Of course, not everyone could make it to Santa Fe for the conference, and even those who were there might not remember all of the takeaways from our conversations, and I want to make sure others can benefit from it! This post is my attempt to compile the main points of that discussion, and to link to some resources that would be useful for those specifically wanting to be a better ally to their trans and nonbinary colleagues. There’s a lot of overlap with my previous post on building a queer inclusive lab, but I’ll be focusing here on specifically trans issues.

First off, you can think of inclusion from two angles. One is how we can change the spaces we’re in to make trans people not in that space more likely to come into that space; the other is figuring out how to support the trans people already in that space. We’ll talk about that first one here in a bit, but for the second, a general rule: the best expert on the experiences of being trans are trans people. When in doubt, ask questions. What can you or your organization be doing to support trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people? Ask us! We’d rather have good faith conversations on how to support us rather than wing it because you’re too uncomfortable to ask.

Now, that being said, generally speaking you probably need to do some legwork beforehand. I’ve discussed this previously, but with the accelerating rate of anti-trans sentiment, accompanied by similar legislation, it’s important to reiterate: if you’re in a supervisory role, you need to be aware of the legal landscape in the places you work. This is particularly important for fieldwork, where students and techs can be especially vulnerable. Your field safety plan (you have one, right??) should include any legal considerations for LGBTQ+ team members- regardless of whether you think you have any queer folks on your current team. Are you in a state without non-discrimination laws? Are you working in a country where homosexuality is outlawed (which while distinct, is often conflated)? Have a plan to make sure your team members can participate fully if they feel comfortable doing so.

Why emphasize that last bit? Because in STEM, there’s often an overwhelming pressure to be willing to go anywhere and everywhere opportunity presents itself- and part of being a better ally is being willing to accommodate people who may not be comfortable living and working in specific places. When we talk about pushing folks to step outside their comfort zone, that’s supposed to be intellectually- not with their physical safety. If someone doesn’t feel comfortable going to a field site or conference, you need to be okay with that and help them find a way to succeed in another way.

Getting passports and other identifications in order is often a lengthy and expensive process for trans and nonbinary people. Photo via Unsplash.

Trans and nonbinary people have some additional financial and logistical burdens to be considered. Transition can be a lengthy and very expensive process. Again, there’s no one single experience here, as the extent to which someone medically transitions (i.e., changes their body via hormones, surgery, and other medical interventions to alleviate dysphoria or otherwise look/feel like their true gender) and/or legally transitions (changing name and gender marker on identification, accounts, transcripts, and other records) will vary from person to person. Let’s briefly break down what those can look like generally, though, to better illustrate the obstacles they pose.

Medical transition is popularly conceived of as “the surgery”- a single procedure where all of the changes a person seeks happen kind of all at once. This is generally completely inaccurate, as transition is not a one-and-done deal- it’s a long process with multiple components. I won’t break down exactly what those all are here, since it’s not the main point of this piece, but if you want to know more (since honestly the science of it is so flipping amazing and I assume if you’re reading this you’re some flavor of biologist who will find it pretty neat), there’s a review here written for clinicians with more specific details as a starting point.

Super simplified, there’s two main things: surgeries and hormones. Access to one or both of those is wildly variable in ease and expense. In California, for instance, insurers are required to cover gender-affirming care, and most care operates under an informed consent model where no additional psychological screenings (yes that’s a thing) are needed. One can get a referral to a specialist and start treatments with a month or two. However, this is far from the norm. People seeking gender-affirming care may face long wait times, lack of insurance coverage, and high costs. Chest masculinization surgery in the US, for one example, will usually run you between $3,000-$10,000. Laser hair removal, often sought by those transitioning to a more feminine presentation, may set you back between $2,000-$16,000, depending on how many sessions are needed. These are obviously hugely significant costs, often paid out-of-pocket. Consider these from the viewpoint of a field tech or grad student with limited income, and suddenly just how formidable of a barrier they can be.

The same goes for legal documentation. Again, not all trans people will seek these, particularly nonbinary people for whom “correct” gender markers are rarely available. The process of changing things like passports, driver’s licenses, and especially birth certificates can be very expensive- especially if your birth certificate is from one of the dozen or so states where one must have specific surgeries to even be eligible. Not only is it expensive, it can lead to difficulties when someone’s documents don’t all match. For instance, transcripts may be in a different name, and journals still typically don’t have name change policies that can allow for previous papers to be easily associated with someone who has transitioned. Even more of an issue is when the discrepancies create issues while traveling or interacting with law enforcement, potentially outing someone in unsafe situations.

Planning for fieldwork is essential- your trans and nonbinary colleagues want to be able to enjoy it like everyone else on the team. Photo via Unsplash.

Let’s talk a little bit more about outing people. In general, do not disclose someone is trans without their explicit consent. Some people may be 100% out to everyone all the time, but most of us have at least some situations where, because it is unsafe to be trans, nonbinary, or gender nonconforming, we do not want others to know. For others, this may be information they prefer be kept private in all scenarios. This is particularly the case for those who are pretransition and still presenting as their gender assigned at birth, who may not be ready to be out to everyone, and for those who are what is sometimes called “stealth”- passing entirely as their gender after transition. In these scenarios in particular, you need to respect that you’ve been told confidential information. Either the person disclosing this trusts you enormously, there’s some specific reason you need to know it, or, likely, some combination of both. Respect that trust that has been placed in you. If you’re unsure— for instance, someone uses they/them pronouns, but you’re unsure if they wanted to be publicly identified as trans— ask! Seriously, we’ll probably honestly be thrilled you’re taking the time to make sure you’re doing things right.

Another area where privacy is paramount is discussion of medical transition. For the vast majority of circumstances, it is considered very rude to ask what specific medical procedures someone has had done, especially relating to genitals. Think about it— how would you feel if a coworker asked you what the state of your downstairs area was? Yeah, I thought so. Rule of thumb: if the information is not offered, don’t ask for it. The main exception to this? If you’re tracking medical info (i.e., what medications someone is on) as part of health and safety coordination for fieldwork or other scenarios where that’s something you would need to know. In that case, the fact that someone is on HRT (the main thing this would apply to) is to be kept confidential just like any other medical information you’ve been entrusted with as part of that role, just like you would any other medication.

Allowing people flexibility to introduce themselves creates a more welcoming environment for not just trans people, but everyone. Photo via Unsplash.

So far, what we’ve focused on here is how to create a more safe and equitable space for the trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people already there. But not everyone we interact with is a coworker or student we see every day. Maybe you’re an instructor with a large number of students in your courses. Maybe you do community outreach activities or public-facing events at a museum or field station. Maybe as part of an agency or nonprofit role, you lead workshops or trainings for other groups. In those cases, how do we build inclusive and welcoming spaces for those we don’t know?

In those settings, one of the most important things you can do is modeling the inclusive behaviors you want to see, and to have zero time for bigotry. I’ve gone into this more in my previous post on queer inclusive labs, but in general, you as an ally should take the time to signal what kind of space you’re building. Pronouns in email signatures and on nametags? Awesome, that means I feel more comfortable that you’ll respect mine. Asking students to introduce themselves with the names and pronouns they want you to use in class, instead of calling roll on a list that might have a name they no longer use? Excellent. Making sure gender-neutral facilities are available, whether it’s at a conference, a field station, or on your university campus? Hell yeah! These are the things that are more usually discussed in things like allyship trainings, so I won’t go into them as much here.

One of the things with these sorts of adjustments that I like to highlight is that while they are intended for the trans community, they also benefit others, in a similar way to what in disability justice circles is known as the “curb-cut effect”. Just like having a curb-cut at crosswalks helps not just wheelchair users but people with strollers, shopping carts, luggage, or even roller-blades, doing something like including pronouns in your email signature helps not just trans folks, but people with names used for multiple genders (I see you, all the Alexs and Jordans and Charlies of the world) or names from cultural traditions where gender conventions may not be apparent to those from other cultures. Allowing people to introduce themselves helps those who have chosen names or have changed their name for a variety of reasons. Not assuming a simple gender breakdown of “guys in that bunkhouse, ladies in that one” for travel accommodations is useful for those who may have concerns about rooming with certain others due to harassment or other privacy needs. They may be intended initially to help trans people, but their benefits extend beyond that.

Finally, the most important thing: be willing to learn and change. If you make mistakes, don’t center yourself in them— “oh no, I messed up your pronoun, I’m so sorry, I try so hard but it’s tricky, I swear I’ll try better—” is not helpful and really awkward, for instance— but instead take note and try to do better the next time. Take the time to be more informed, and to seek out training or education when available. There’s no endpoint in learning on how to be a better mentor and ally, and so don’t be intimidated that it feels like you can’t know everything. Hopefully this has given you something to start with!

Additional resources:

The first step to be a better ally is educating yourself. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to sift through the bad-faith information out there, so I’ve compiled some good sources of basic info to refer to:

https://genderqueer.me/resources/ This site has a compilation of links to other resources. Many are aimed at trans folks specifically, but there’s some good 101 info at the top to get you started if you’re new to this.

Lambda Legal has multiple resources focused on the legal rights of LGBTQ+ people, but their guide for supporting trans students is particularly worth checking out.

Still confused on how to implement pronoun-sharing? Posts by Kirby Conrad here and here get into more aspects of it.

Rainbow Lorikeets and Out in the Field are the LGBTQ+ groups within the American Ornithological Society and The Wildlife Society, respectively.

Want more discussion of this? I asked on Twitter what trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming folks wished their cis colleagues knew about being trans in ornithology.