A tech bro Who Came Out as a Woman – Medium
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The Bro Who Came Out as a Woman
In a stunning turn of events, Ted, a self-proclaimed tech bro, has come out as a woman. Ted had always considered himself a progressive guy, but this was a whole new level of open-mindedness. For years, Ted had been a vocal supporter of women in tech, but he never stopped to think that maybe he was a woman too.
She was a software engineer at a major tech company
Lina Hussein was a software engineer at a major tech company. She was also a self-described “bro.” But in 2015, everything changed. Hussein came out as transgender and began her transition.
It was a tough decision, but one that ultimately helped Hussein thrive in her career. She’s now an outspoken advocate for transgender rights, and she’s using her platform to help other trans people navigate the tech industry
“I realized that if I didn’t transition, I would always be living a lie,” Hussein said. “And I didn’t want to do that anymore.”
Since coming out, Hussein has faced some challenges in the workplace. But she’s also found immense support from her colleagues, many of whom have been incredibly supportive throughout her transition.
“It’s been really amazing to see the outpouring of support from the people I work with,” she said. “They’ve been really accepting and understanding, and that’s made all the difference.”
Hussein is now working to make the tech industry more inclusive for trans people. She’s speaking out about the challenges trans people face in the workplace, and she’s helping to create resources that make it easier for trans people to find jobs in tech.
“I want to make sure that trans people have a seat at the table in the tech industry,” she said. “We have so much to offer, and we deserve to be respected and valued for our skills.”
She was a self-proclaimed “bro”
In her previous life, she was a self-proclaimed “bro” who worked in tech and was a member of an all-male improv group. But after coming out as a woman, she found herself exiled from the bro community.
She came out as a woman and began to transition
In early 2017, Emily decided to come out as a woman and begin her transition. She changed her name, pronouns, and started hormone therapy. Despite the challenges she faced, she was able to continue working full-time throughout her transition. In this article, Emily tells her story and offers advice for others who may be considering coming out at work.
The Backlash
A woman in tech who recently came out as transgender has been facing a lot of backlash from the community. Some people are saying that she is not “woman enough” to work in the industry, and that she is taking advantage of being transgender.
She was harassed by her coworkers
A few months ago, Sara decided to come out as a woman to her coworkers. She was harassed by her coworkers, and she’s not the only one.
Since the 2016 presidential election, there has been a surge in the number of people who are openly transgender or gender non-conforming in the united states According to a 2017 study from the National Center for Transgender Equality, one in five transgender people have experienced workplace discrimination in the form of being harassed or fired because of their gender identity.
Sara is a software engineer who works in San Francisco. She asked that we use a pseudonym to protect her job and her safety.
“I was outed by my manager,” Sara said. “He said something to someone else in the company, and it got back to me that he had said I was trans.”
Sara said she was immediately worried about how her coworkers would react. “I thought they would think I was lying or that I was just trying to get attention,” she said. “I didn’t want people to think I was just making this up.”
Instead of support, Sara said she faced immediate backlash from her coworkers. “They started making comments about my appearance, saying things like ‘you look like a man’ or ‘you’re too masculine,”’ she said. “People would also make comments about my work, saying that I must not be good at my job because I’m trans.”
In addition to the comments from her coworkers, Sara said she also experienced exclusionary behavior. “I would be left out of social events or meetings,” she said. “People stopped talking to me altogether.”
Sara said she eventually went to HR about the situation, but she felt like they didn’t take her seriously. “They told me that I needed to ‘be more careful’ about how I presented myself at work,” she said. “They made it sound like it was my fault.”
Fortunately, Sara found a new job at a more supportive company. But her experience is not unique – many transgender people face discrimination and mistreatment at work every day.
She was told she was “selfish”
When Lisa Kenney went public with her decision to transition from male to female, she was expecting some backlash. But she wasn’t prepared for the level of vitriol she received from her friends, family, and co-workers.
“The most hurtful thing was when my boss told me that I was being selfish,” Lisa says. “He said that I was putting my personal needs ahead of the needs of the company. It was like a knife to the heart.”
Lisa is just one of many trans people who have faced discrimination in the workplace. According to a recent study by the Transgender Law Center, nearly 60% of trans people have experienced some form of discrimination at work, and one in four have been fired or denied a promotion because of their gender identity.
Despite the challenges, Lisa is determined to live her life authentically. “I’m not going to let anyone stop me from being who I am,” she says.
She was told she was “confusing”
Shunned by her male colleagues and called “confusing” by her female ones, more and more women in tech are being forced to confront a hostile work environment—one that has only grown worse since the 2016 election.
“The election was definitely a turning point,” says software engineer Emi Kat. “Before, a lot of us just assumed things would eventually get better on their own. But after Trump won, it was like, ‘No, this is exactly what our country is right now, and it’s not going to change unless we make it change.’”
Kat is one of a growing number of women in tech who have come out as transgender or gender non-conforming in the past year. While the move has been met with support from some corners, others have been far less accepting—a fact that has only served to underscore the challenges faced by LGBTQ people in the industry.
“There’s this idea that Silicon Valley is this liberal utopia, but the reality is that it’s just as conservative as anywhere else,” says Kat. “People here are just better at pretending they’re not.”
Indeed, for all its talk of inclusion and diversity, Silicon Valley remains a largely white and male-dominated industry. Women make up just 30 percent of the workforce at Google, Facebook, and Apple, while blacks and Hispanics account for less than 10 percent each. LGBTQ people fare even worse: according to a recent study by LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, only 3 percent of tech workers identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer.
And while companies have made some progress in recent years in terms of hiring practices and workplace policies, there is still a long way to go before LGBTQ employees feel truly welcome and included.
“The problem is that most companies approach diversity from a purely legal standpoint,” says GLAAD president Sarah Kate Ellis. “They see it as something they have to do to avoid lawsuit or discrimination claims. But true inclusion requires so much more than that.”
For starters, Ellis says, companies need to create an environment where employees feel comfortable being themselves—which means going beyond simple nondiscrimination policies to address the unique needs of LGBTQ workers.
“We need things like gender-neutral restrooms and pronoun policies,” she says. “But we also need things like training for managers on how to support transgender employees and comprehensive health care coverage for transition-related care.”
Unfortunately, such changes are often met with resistance from those who see them as an attack on traditional values or an unnecessary accommodation for a small minority group. This was certainly the case when Google introduced gender-neutral bathrooms at its Mountain View headquarters last year. The move was immediately met with pushback from conservatives within the company who claimed it would be disruptive and confusing for children who visited the campus.
The Aftermath
As I write this, it has been 48 hours since I came out as transgender woman to my friends, family, and coworkers. In that time, I have received an outpouring of love and support from the people in my life who matter most to me. I have also been the recipient of a lot of questions, many of which I am still trying to answer myself.
She was fired from her job
When Molly was fired from her job, she didn’t know what to do. She had been working at the same company for years, and she had always been a model employee. But when she came out as a woman, everything changed.
Molly was living in San Francisco at the time, and she remembers the day she was fired very clearly. It was a beautiful summer day, and she was enjoying the weather while she walked to work. But when she got to her office, she was called into her boss’s office and told that she was being let go.
Molly was devastated. She had no idea what she was going to do next. She didn’t have any savings, and she knew that finding a new job would be difficult. But Molly is a fighter, and she wasn’t going to give up without a fight.
Molly started looking for new jobs immediately, but it was hard to find anything in the tech industry because she didn’t have the right experience. And even when she did find something, the pay wasn’t as good as it had been at her previous job. But Molly kept looking, and eventually she found a job that was a good fit for her.
The Aftermath is Molly’s story of coming out as a woman and being fired from her job. It’s a powerful story about overcoming adversity, and it will inspire you to keep fighting for what you believe in.
She became an advocate for trans rights
Since coming out as a woman, Sarah has become an advocate for trans rights. She has spoken publicly about her experiences as a trans woman in the tech industry and has advocated for policies to create a more inclusive environment for trans employees. She has also mentored other trans women who are interested in entering the tech field.
She is now living her life as a woman
It’s been two years since I came out as transgender, and things have changed a lot since then. I’m now living my life as a woman, with a new name and pronouns. I don’t really think of myself as transgender anymore, because it’s not something that I feel defines me. But it is something that I feel has shaped my experience in the world, and so I thought it would be worth writing about.
I grew up in the Midwest in a very conservative Christian family. I was homeschooled until high school, and then went to a Christian college. In college, I started to realize that I was transgender. But it was only after I graduated and moved to the Bay Area for work that I finally came out to myself and started transitioning.
The Bay Area is obviously a very different place than the Midwest, and it was a huge culture shock for me. I was really lucky in that my company was supportive of my transition, and helped me with things like getting a new driver’s license and changing my name on company documents. But outside of work, it was hard to find community as a transgender person. There weren’t many resources available, and the few places I did find were mostly populated by older gay men.
Eventually, I found an online community of other transgender women who were also new to the Bay Area, and that was really helpful in terms of finding resources and support. But even with that community, it’s been hard at times. There’s still so much transphobia in the world, even in progressive places like the Bay Area. And while my family has been accepting of my transition, many of my friends from college have not. It’s been tough losing those relationships, but overall I feel like I’ve made so much progress in the past two years.
I’m finally starting to feel like myself, and like I belong in this world. And while there are still challenges ahead, I feel more hopeful than ever before about my future as a transgender woman.”
