By Colin Heyman, HQN EDI Network Lead

Transgender issues have continued to be much in the news over recent months, most notably at the recent Olympics with the controversy about the boxers Imane Khelif of Algeria and Lin Yu‑ting of Chinese Taipei (Taiwan).

It’s interesting that this is thought of, and reported, as a controversy about trans issues and people, despite the fact that neither of the boxers concerned are transgender. As the International Olympic Committee has said: “The Algerian boxer was born female, was registered female, lived her life as a female, boxed as a female, has a female passport. This is not a transgender case”.

It’s actually about women athletes who have differences in sex development (DSD) and is, therefore, more like the controversy about the South African runner Caster Semenya. Nevertheless, it has generated much heat, with comments about “women fighting as men”.

For me, this is the problem with the whole debate around transgender issues. The issue has become increasingly prominent and the discussion increasingly heated and entrenched, and there are few opportunities for sensible discussion.  This is very harmful both to trans people who become the targets and victims of so much hate, but also to society at large which can become divided by the issue as part of the manufactured ‘culture wars’.

Be that as it may, the fact is that as social housing organisations you will increasingly encounter trans people as both employees and tenants/customers. This is partly because of the number of people who are now out as trans (as they should be), and because around 25% of trans people experience homelessness during their lives, a much bigger proportion than cisgender (the opposite of transgender) people.

My aim here is to give here a few pointers around good practice when trans people come into your organisation in whatever capacity.

Ten tips

1. When a colleague or tenant comes out to you as transgender, ask that person what they need and how you can support them. Every trans person is different, and their needs are different.
2. Ensure your organisation has a policy on transgender and non-binary issues, which has been put together with input from transgender people/organisations. If you don’t have one, start putting one together now. This will help you to move forward when someone transgender joins the organisation, rather than having to work it out, possibly in a hurry, because the situation has arisen.
3. Make your support for trans people visible – for example, with statements in your literature and signs such as the transgender rainbow logo. Include a transgender question on customer profiling forms. When people talk about tenants who might be uncomfortable answering this question or not understand it, they forget the numbers of people from the LGBTQ+ community and their friends who will immediately feel safer because you have asked it.
4. Ensure trans people are fully included in your ASB policies and actions. Trans people are one of the main targets of hate at the present time.
5. If you are able, have gender neutral toilets in your building.
6. Try and become informed on transgender issues. There’s loads of stuff around – for example, here. (My personal favourite is itspronouncedmetrosexual.com.)
7. Another way of becoming aware, of course, is to commission some training, preferably from trans people.
8. Ensure your computer systems are trans-friendly. One example is to include Mx (for non-binary people) and ‘other’ in your choice of titles when people are filling in forms – or even better get rid of titles altogether. They’re often not needed at all.
9. If you work with a trans person, exercise ‘respectful nosiness’. People are often afraid of asking other people who are different from them about that difference. Most people are prepared to talk about their lives, and indeed welcome being asked, especially as misinformation is one of the main causes of oppression. Others, though, find it difficult to talk about their lives and experiences – it obviously can be a very emotional subject. So, ask, but be prepared for some people to say no.

• Include pronouns in email signatures and at meetings. This is another sign that your organisation is trans-friendly and makes it easier for people who might be misgendered to say what their pronouns are without being the only ones who have to do so.