Interview for North West LGBT'ers...

'ello:)

Just thought I'd let y'all know about a little interview thing I did the other week. A very friendly queer in the North West was conducting interviews, to collect info/rantage from LGBT people in the area, for the North West Development Agency. The Development Agency want to hear about our experiences with employment/education/health-care in the North West, and as someone who is involved in all three (and likes to have a good rant) I figured I should go along!

I had to do the interview twice, as the first time round-the recorder only picked up 36 seconds of me. Lol. But the second attempt went well, and I think I discussed some important things. Regarding health-care, I talked about things related to trans people- directly and indirectly. Like, I talked about GIC's, waiting times, 'jumping hoops' and issues for gay/bi/generally queer trans people who access GIC services (coz obviously we all transition in order to marry someone of a different gender and have kids and a dog called Bruno. Obviously.)
I also talked about accessing health-care services which ain't so clued up on trans stuffs. For example, when you go to your GP because you have tonsillitis, and end up having to explain that, 'Yes I want to medically transition, No I'm not insane- just give me the damn amoxicillin!

Regarding education, I had a rant about the amount of lecturers I have, who cannot seem to divide the class up for activities, by anything other than gender. And the admin staff who bellow across the hall 'are you that one who used to be a girl?'. And the security guard who frowns each time I use the disabled toilet. I talked about the incredibly gender-stereotypical posters/booklets I see around each department-aeronautical engineering; it's not for girls. Apparently.

I also spoke about wider issues, such as the application process for university, issues with university accommodation for trans people and access to student finance under the estrangement policy. I discussed other things which can affect trans students, such as time off for surgeries, protection from transphobia on campus and confidentiality issues.

There were some questions asked regarding education, which made me look back at my schooling and think 'that was kinda crap'. During the interview, we started to talk about subjects where LGBT people may feel excluded, and I can very much remember sitting in sex ed and thinking 'there is no way in hell I'm ever gonna do that!', and being hushed/frowned at by teachers when I would shout out, 'but what if you're gay!'. Yeah, I was that kid...

We spoke about employment, and the issues trans people can have. I'll never forget the HR person at one of my previous jobs, who, when I told her that others who worked there were harassing me/following me to the toilet etc, said "Well, you do look very androgynous, there's nothing I can do because you're bringing it on yourself' and concluded our conversation with, "It's not anyone's fault that they're confused by you-people need to know if you're a boy or a girl, don't they?" No, they don't. So I talked about the lack of training that HR peoples get on gender stuffs, and GNT'S and things that would make trans employees much happier :).

Anyhow, I just thought I'd post on here to let y'all know about this-I'll post an update when the results of the study are available.


Here's a couple links to sound out the organisations involved:

http://ecotec.com/theme/equality--diversity/lesbian,-gay--bisexual-communities-experiences-of-learning.aspx

http://www.nwda.co.uk/


Peace,

Frank.