Emily Hamilton on the Importance of Trans Day of Visibility and Why Allies Need to Step Up Now More Than Ever

Today marks Trans Day of Visibility, a vital date in the calendar to lift up trans voices, empower allies and speak up for change. myGwork speak to Emily Hamilton from RS Group about the importance of visibility, what workplaces can do to support the trans community and what she hopes to see from allies.

Hi Emily, thank you for chatting with us - Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself and your role at RS Group? 

My name is Emily Hamilton. I am Vice President of Strategic Change within product and supply chain in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) region. What that means is I'm responsible for a portfolio of projects, change initiatives and making sure that when we change the way we work to be more efficient for our customers our people and our suppliers, that we do it effectively and that the change is properly embedded.

What does Trans Day of Visibility mean to you?

It's an important counterpoint to Trans Day of Remembrance which we observe in November. That's a very somber time, you know we have a week leading up to that where we’re much of our minds are on the people we've lost over the years. Trans Day of Visibility is designed to be a much more joyful occasion. It's about celebrating the successes, the wins, the lives of our community and what we've contributed to the world. I think for me, that time of celebration is a really important thing. And frankly, it’s very difficult at the moment, but you can't spend the whole year thinking only about the awful stuff. You have to take a break sometimes and think about the good things that have happened. And in this respect, visibility is so crucial. It's much harder to hate somebody you know.  By being visible, we can pick apart some of the lies that are told about the trans community. And they really are lies. For example, it’s much harder to say that all trans women are monsters and deviants if you think to yourself, “Well hang on. I know Emily and that's not right. That's not true. Yeah, that doesn't scan.” So the more visible we can be, the better. And I think it’s crucial for younger people who are in the closet, people who are experiencing gender incongruence, to know there are other people like them. That is also crucial – if you can't see it, you can't be it.

Why is it important that we continue to shine a light on the trans community and increase visibility?

I mean, it's an unprecedentedly bad time for the trans community at the moment. There's no two ways about it. We’re under constant, and I mean daily, assault with untruths, with scaremongering, with attempts, to erase us from enjoying public life. So I think it is important that we lift up those members of the trans community who are able to be visible, who are comfortable being visible. Because it is a great antidote to that assault. And you know, we are only 0.5% of the population, based on census data.  So there aren’t enough of us to effectively and consistently raise our own voices. So to have events where the wider community, whether that be the wider LGBT community, or broader society, can actually turn up and say, “These are our family. These are our colleagues. These are our friends,” I think that's really, really important. Because we've got to get through this period. And it's not fun.

What, in your opinion, can workplaces do to increase trans inclusivity?

There are lots of things that businesses can do. I guess it starts with the hiring step. Where are you going to get your employees? Are you using inclusive language? Are you explicitly saying in your job adverts that you welcome applicants from the trans community? And in fact, employers should do it more broadly, “We want people from multiple racial backgrounds. We want people with multiple languages, multiple country backgrounds, and origins.” Don't try and be too clever or dress up the language you use. If you say in your advertisement, “We especially welcome applications from trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people, alongside disabled people and also underrepresented ethnic backgrounds.” Just use plain, simple language so when I’m reading it, I'm not wondering: “did you really mean that?”

As an example, we see organizations starting to talk about gender balance, but don't leave people wondering if you mean cis-gender balance or the entirety of gender balance.

Additionally, I think when you have people join the organization, it's important to have policy frameworks which support trans people.  Make sure to have Dignity at Work policies; there's a massive ‘culture war’ at the moment between the “rights of belief” and the right to be trans. And you know, those things are not incompatible.

The difference is, if you have a belief which is discriminatory and you manifest that belief, that then becomes a problem. So having policies ready to stop that from becoming an issue are pretty crucial.

There are also some very practical things – and I'm thrilled to say the RS Group in the UK has just taken this step – but things like making sure health insurance policies that you provide as part of your reward package are inclusive and provide the support that's required by the trans community.

And I think having a Transition at Work Policy – because, yes, you're going to have some out trans people, but you're also going to have some closeted trans people who at some point are going to have to have the same conversation I had three and a half years ago. And you need people to be ready. Cause it's not a matter of if somebody will come out as trans, it's a matter of when.

Did you have any visible trans role models when you were growing up? And then how did that impact you?

It's a simple answer – no. Growing up, and this was one of the big problems for me, there were no really visible trans role models for me. I knew that such people existed, but they were sensationalized. They were pretty ephemeral. They would only come up if there was some sort of sensational news story – and usually something to do with sex because that’s how the tabloids got hold of it.

You know, some ‘blonde bombshell’ is ‘transsexual’ as they would've said in those days. And they would have been a figure of curiosity and ridicule. And of course, I've come to know there have always been hidden trans role models, but they just didn't get the publicity – they didn't get the visibility to make them a role model to me. And that made it incredibly isolating as a young trans person. I mean, I knew when I was six, articulated it effectively at the age of 10 or 11, but I thought I was literally the only person who felt like me.

I wasn't a drag queen, I wasn't wanting to ‘dress up’ for entertainment, I was just me. I was a girl, I just didn't know what was going on. And I had nobody to look to and say, “Yes! I'm like that! That's who I am.”

Do you have trans role models now?

Yeah, I do. And they're not the ones that you think of. I mean, there are some more prominent trans people in the public eye – and I think there are amazing. In fact, we named a few of them when we celebrated LGBTQ+ History Month at RS. But in terms of who I would look to as role models, I think about the people I work with in my trans-inclusion, advocacy work. I look at people like Bobbi Pickard – the Chief Executive of Trans in the City, of which I'm a director. She is also a senior leader within the BP organization globally. Or I look at somebody like Skye Morden, who is a police officer with the UK police service who faces incredible challenges in her daily life, but faces into them with incredible grace. Or my best friend Elizabeth Rimmington – she's a senior data lead with Barclays and one of the first people that took me under their wing when I came out, when I started to express myself. These are the people who are my role models. They're not making any coin off of this – there's no big bucks, there's no secret donor making us all wealthier. These are people who just get up every day because they want a better life for other people. They want to make life better for the next generation. And for me, they're absolute heroes. These are my role models. These are the people who keep me going.

How would you describe the situation of trans employees in the UK compared to other countries?

Depends on the other countries you’re comparing us to…

In the UK, we have some protection. We have the Equality Act, for example, which is something that doesn't exist in the US. And gender reassignment being a protected category within that act.  We also have the UK’s Gender Recognition Act, even though it is highly flawed and relies on a dehumanizing process, that does give us some means of regularizing documentation for the purposes of marriage and dignity in death

At the same time though, and we know this from surveys, that a number of businesses in the UK just will not hire a trans person. As high as a third openly said they wouldn't do so. And more than 50% said they will be unlikely to do so. So even with protections, there's still very different sort of challenges that always keep us on the back foot. And though there are these legal protections, We can see highly coordinated efforts to erode them. I think that day-by-day, there are moves to remove those rights that we do have – and there's not a lot of meaningful opposition in official terms.

I’ve mentioned the importance of offering trans health care as a health benefit. We are one of very, very few companies that offers full transgender health care benefits. And for trans people in the UK, you know, waiting times start about six years for the first appointment and go upwards from there. There are some people who've been on waiting lists for 6, 7, 8, 9 years.

And another thing that will start to be a differentiator for businesses, as an example, we know the hate crime rate against trans people is massively increasing in this country – we saw a 56% increase last year in reported transphobic hate crime. And we know that most hate crime goes unreported – but it's still gone up by just over 160% in the last four years. It’s the fastest growing category of hate crime in the UK, and what we're seeing is a lot of dismissal of that as being “better recording” or “better reporting”.

Whereas the reality for trans people is we know we are facing more hate. We are facing more vitriol. And you can't separate the human you are “nine-to-five” with the human you are on your lunch break or when you’re off work. So if you go out and you get grief at lunchtime – which has happened to me in London – I've had abuse thrown at me and I've had to come back and do a day's work afterwards. I've had abuse thrown at me in the morning, I've had abuse thrown at me in the evening. You can’t separate the environment outside from the environment inside, so that has a massive impact on people in the workplace. And there’s no real protection from that. That's definitely something that companies need to be better at – to be more attuned to what's going on for the trans, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming community. To understand what that level of hatred does to us in the workplace.

Now compared to the US? Well, they are arguably in a worst situation at the moment. What we're seeing there is because they don't have federal protections, so standards of protection are left to the state. And some states are good – some states are very positive and very trans-inclusive. I think of states in the Pacific Northwest. And some of the new England states. And California is still pretty good.

But then, there are many of the states across the central and southern parts of the US where the rate of anti-trans legislation being introduced is frighteningly fast. And Texas is now one of the worst – it's the deepest red in terms of danger for the trans community. And we can’t forget Florida and Tennessee – these places are now almost becoming “no-go, no job” zones for trans people – which is a terrifying prospect.

And yet, in other parts of the world we are seeing massive moves forward. We're seeing self-identification being introduced in many countries, which as per the United Nations, is the base level for gender recognition.

We are seeing better workplace protections in places like Germany, and equality legislation fully covering trans people. There’s trans health care being provided in Switzerland, as well as, countries like Malta – which is a deeply religious country, and is consistently voted one the best place for LGBT people in Europe.

Argentina is another great example of a trans-inclusive country with a very strong faith-base – which people will say is not compatible. They're all templates as to where we can get to. So, yeah, there are lots of better places.

And of course, somebody will say to me, “There are lots of worse places to be.” And yes, there are seven countries where the death penalty is still in place for people like me. There are 70 countries where it is flat-out illegal to be me. So yes, they are worse – but that shouldn’t be your benchmark. That's not where you should be taking your cues from.

Okay, last question. What is your advice to people that wish to be visible, and I'll even throw in active, trans allies?

Well, “be visible and be active”, that’s the best advice. Now is not the time for silence. Silence is going to cost people their lives. And I know that sounds really dramatic, but it's true. We need our allies now to be vocal. We need particularly our allies whose names are often used in vain in anti-trans movements. We need women to step up when somebody says that “women don’t agree that trans women are women. They don’t feel safe accepting trans women as women.” We need cis-gender women to say, “That's not true. That's not the case. That's not our experience.” Stand up – “not in my name” is the crucial thing that we need to hear.

For lesbian and bi trans women, one of the awful and oft repeated far-right tropes is that of the great “replacement theory”. You know we've seen that in a racial context, and now we’re seeing it in the trans context.

By this twisted logic somehow, trans women who have relationships with women are replacing lesbians, are invading lesbian spaces.

And, you know I have a very simple view – that you can be friends with somebody without having sex with them – because for EVERYONE, consent is one of those things which counts for everybody, no matter their gender or sexual orientation.  Fortunately, I’ve yet to meet a cisgender lesbian who thinks that way or a cisgender bisexual person who thinks that way. They have been nothing but supportive. Nothing but lovely and inclusive.

Also, I think we all need to be better informed as allies. It's not good enough when you meet a trans person you say, “How are you?” and they say, “bloody awful” (as I say quite a lot of the time), but then you turn back and say, “Why? What's wrong?” and when you find out what we're going through, you seem surprised. If you want to be a good ally, get clued up. Start to understand why things are so bad.

From my perspective of retained privilege, there are many marginalized identities that I do not share. I still retain white privilege. Educated privileged.

So when it comes to things like racial justice, I have to go the extra mile – I have to research and understand a little of what non-white people go through so that I can be an effective ally. We need to have more of that – and frankly it counts across all marginalized identities.

If you are not trans, learn about what we're going through. If you are not white, learn about what people are going through. It's not good enough to say, “I don't understand” or “I didn't realize it was that bad”. Because you can't be effective as an ally – you can't be active, and you can't be visible, if that's your approach to the world.