Art of Transliness — If I’m applying for a job and I pass pretty well and have my name changed, etc., what should I do when I have to mark “male or female” on the checklist? Should I just leave it blank? Mark female and hope for the best? (note: I want to be as stealth as possible; I know i’ll have to probably talk to my employer about being trans but I know some people who are actually stealth at work.) I really don’t want anyone knowing. My employer can’t disclose that info to anyone else, right? Thank you.

Answer

If I'm applying for a job and I pass pretty well and have my name changed, etc., what should I do when I have to mark "male or female" on the checklist? Should I just leave it blank? Mark female and hope for the best? (note: I want to be as stealth as possible; I know i'll have to probably talk to my employer about being trans but I know some people who are actually stealth at work.) I really don't want anyone knowing. My employer can't disclose that info to anyone else, right? Thank you.

Anonymous asked

Zak: You should mark down the gender that you identify as and/or plan on presenting as on the job. Even if it asks for your sex you can put down your gender. It used to be that social security would send out no-match letters and so the gender you put on your application mattered a lot more. Now that isn’t the case and the gender you put down shouldn’t matter much. A word of warning, though: some minimum wage jobs will make a copy of your drivers license (particularly delivery-type jobs), so if your gender marker on your ID doesn’t match the gender you present as you could run into an awkward situation. Being completely stealth at work is totally possible, though (I was stealth at my last job and Adrian is stealth at his current job). It is certainly easier if you’ve had your documents changed, but depending on the job it is possible even if you haven’t.