# DEI ideas for Chelsea

- Deciding on appropriate countries/locations for conferences/meetups/venues. A lot of this applies to all LGBTQIA+ people but transgender/GNC people can be more of a target.
- Most predominately Islamic countries have laws, beliefs, traditions, or cultural norms in place that either criminalise, discriminate against, or have little or no protections for LGBTQIA+ people
- The level of these practices varies from place to place and the branch of Islam being practiced - Sunni Muslims seem to be more tolerant, while Shia Muslims have a much more hard-line stance
- Some places go as far to impose the death penalty on homosexual acts. Many places are tolerant towards tourists and foreigners, especially if they are not displaying any "inappropriate" behaviours
- This includes countries in SE Asia, the Middle East, and Africa
- In general any country or place that has any form of discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people should be considered dangerous and ruled out as a destination
- There may also be places where bringing transgender affirming medication is difficult or illegal, additionally some mental health medications such as antipsychotics are not permitted in some countries
- This applies to travelling through these countries to another destination
- Some states in the United States have state laws that provide less protection for LGBTQIA+ people, and may be very conservative both legally, politically, and culturally, and transgender people in particular can face discrimination and violence, a lack of police attention, and medical discrimination, so these states should be ruled out as a destination (even if travelling through these states to another destination)
- There may be difficulties with carrying medication, including HRT in tablet or injection form, or mental health medication such as benzos, SSRIs, or antipsychotics
- Airport security
- Transgender/GNC people who have their gender assumed but are not "dressed accordingly" or don't match their IDs may face additional scrutiny or discrimination
- 3d body scanners can reveal physical genital structures that don't match dress or ID and also face additional scrutiny or discrimination
- This can take the form of physical examination, sometimes in public view, sometimes by a person of an inappropriate gender, sometimes equating to assault
- Apart from psychological stress and trauma this can simply lead to delays
- Dealing with these procedures alone can be stressful as it can be difficult to advocate for yourself, so having peer support is good when possible
- Diversity training
- Gender - binary and non-binary, gender assigned at birth, psychological impact of transition, social discrimination and anxiety
- Pronouns - binary, non-binary, neopronouns, xenopronouns
- Clothing and appearance - providing gender-affirming uniform and dress options, allowing affirming dress decisions on our part, acceptance of non-traditional appearances such as hair styles and colours, tattoos, piercings
- If a uniform is required there should be a gender-neutral option, and everybody should be able to decide which option they want to wear regardless of gender
- Implicit discrimination and bias - eg. treating someone in a way that is incongrous to how you would treat cis people of that gender
- Psychological impacts of misgendering, deadnaming
- Consequences for repeat offenders and deliberate actions
- Support for social transition - personal information in IT systems etc
- "Legal name" should only be available in limited situations, "Name" should be used the vast majority of the time
- "Preferred" is a fallacy and should be avoided. "My name is Xxx Xxx, I am a yyyyyy". Similary "What gender do you identify as?" - this is transphobic.
- Gender markers should be distinct from any medical status, notes on birth certificates, medicare status
- Limit gender markers to cases where they are actually needed - why would a university even need to know someone's gender per se
- Gender should not be a dropdown box, and "Other" shouldn't be an option. "Prefer not to say" should.
- Titles should be inclusive, or free text
- Disparate IT systems should be linked and update automatically when personal details are updated in any other system - you shouldn't need to visit different faculties or offices (or campuses) to get personal details updated, deadnames and incorrect genders should never be present in any system after an update in one system
- Changelogs to personal details should either not exist, or not be visible without exceptional circumstances
- Email addresses should be simple to create with new names, the previous email address should automatically redirect to the new address (so you don't have to maintain the deadname email address as well), internal communications should automatically be directed to the new address
- For students, lecturers and staff associated with the student should receive notification if the student wishes it, without the student having to communicate transition to every person they need to interact with
- Misgendering and deadnaming by staff and faculty should be treated very seriously and have real consequences
- Asking about surgery or any medical interventions is inappropriate
- Code of conduct for staff, faculty, other students around discrimination and transphobia
- Nobody should ever ask a trans/GNC person their deadname or gender assigned at birth
- Require inclusion in diversity groups; eg. an on-campus Women in Science association should not be trans-exclusionary and welcome trans women and non-binary people
- Dismantle groups and discourse that treat masculinity/feminimity as based on purely physical characteristics, eg.
- A trans woman with a deep voice is still a woman
- A trans man who doesn't bind is still a man
- The concept of a "physical woman", "biological woman", "real woman"
- Devaluing women who do not have a period, cannot get pregnant
- Concept of the sacred womb
- Women/trans femmes/GNC people that have facial hair
- (some of these are often but not always inadvertently exclusionary of cis women without those physical characteristics, eg. post-menopausal cis women and cis women with hormonal imbalances can develop deeper voices and frequently facial hair)
- Assumptions around trans women having experienced male privilege, being socialised male
- Assumptions around trans men being gender traitors for rejecting feminimity/feminism
- Assumptions around performative gender construction
- Conflation of gender expression and sexual preference
- Conflation of GNC and kink, cross-dressing, to a lesser extent drag
- Conflation of GNC and mental health issues
- Have true assessments of visiting speakers based on their expressed opinions and potential for causing harm to the LGBTQIA+ community - make decisions based on fact and harm-reduction, not populism or "encouraging debate" or some idea of resistance against political correctness
- Radical feminism has no place in public discourse
- Be aware of putting trans/gender diverse people into situations that may be triggering, be uncomfortable, or risk harm - eg. requiring a trans woman to join a heavily male team with a toxic culture that can't easily be changed, or having a non-binary person deal with an environment with heavily defined gender roles (men do this, women do that)
- Make sure that binary transgender people are able to use gendered facilities that they are comfortable in, wthout facing discrimination or threat, and similarly non-binary/GNC people should be able to use facilities that either match their preference, their preference at the time, or have access to gender-neutral facilities
- Inclusive language when addressing groups - "Ladies and gentlemen" vs "Folks" etc. "Guys" is interesting because many people consider it inclusive - historically it isn't, it originates from "Guy Fawkes" then became used as a term for a male, and some women and particularly trans women find it a micro-agression.
- Subtle micro-aggressions
- Playing a right-leaning TV news channel or radio program in shared or public spaces
- Gendered signs, symbols, use of blue and pink colours, which encourage a gender binary and exclude non-binary people