From Caitlyn Jenner to the hit Amazon show Transparent and Laverne Cox gracing the cover of TIME Magazine, transgender people have achieved an unprecedented level of visibility over the last year. However, this presence in the media hasn't addressed how to create more employment opportunities for the community or created safer workplaces for everyday transgender people.
In the first event of its kind on Wall Street, Deutsche Bank explored the challenges and successes of the transgender community, and how to make workplaces more inclusive of transgender people at dbPride's "Tackling the T: Being Transgender In Today's World" on June 25th. The panelists included Alexandra Billings, an actress in Transparent, Angelica Ross, the founding CEO and Executive Director of TransTech Social Enterprises, and Chris Mosier, the first transgender man on Team USA and Executive Director of Go! Athletes, and was moderated by HuffPost Live producer Alex Berg.
Billings said that acknowledging the trans community is the first step. "You may not know it, but you're working with us and that could mean we are still in stealth. It could mean we are terrified to come out," Billings said. "You can make yourself known as an ally. You can say the word 'transgender' -- you can actually say it. Because, you see, if we can't see it, we can at least hear it," she added.
Ross said that another way to be inclusive is to integrate transgender issues into employee training:
What you can do in a work environment is stop making trans or anything else as this special training, a special week. Integrate it into your regular trainings when you onboard people into the HR process... I'm glad to celebrate the achievements of my black community. I feel some kind of way doing that in a month. I feel some kind of way that it's not celebrated all year long. So, if we're going to get to this place, we have to fully integrate people in so it's not just a special thing.
"Stop making special accommodations and start making places accessible for all people," Mosier added.
In addition to workplace issues, the panel explored how transgender people of color face disproportionate violence, media representation and the success of the community. "We are incredibly grateful and humbled by all that attended. The eye-opening panel really enlightened all of us. This event really showed that we need to continue to push forward for the T in LGBT," Jon Tilli, Co-Chair, Employee Engagement and Event Lead, dbPride, said.
As the LGBT community celebrated the Supreme Court's decision in favor of marriage equality in all 50 states on Friday, many started looking forward to the next fight for the community. "We are thrilled that the Supreme Court has made this historic decision in favor of marriage equality and that our LGBT colleagues and friends now have equality in this fundamental aspect of life. Deutsche Bank is proud to be a long-term supporter of marriage equality and to have participated in an amicus brief in this case. We believe in a diverse and inclusive culture where all people are treated fairly," Jacques Brand, CEO of North America, Deutsche Bank, said in a statement.