{"id":1087,"date":"2019-03-31T10:48:55","date_gmt":"2019-03-31T14:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/company\/stories\/transgender-day-visibility-three-steps-inclusive-ally-colleague-friend\/"},"modified":"2025-06-04T14:45:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T18:45:18","slug":"transgender-day-visibility-three-steps-inclusive-ally-colleague-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/company\/stories\/transgender-day-visibility-three-steps-inclusive-ally-colleague-friend\/","title":{"rendered":"Transgender Day of Visibility: Three steps to being a more inclusive ally, colleague, and friend"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you consider yourself an ally \u2013 ask yourself, what does allyship mean to you? However we identify our gender, our sexual orientation, our race or even our religion and political affiliations, we all need allies. Allies make spaces more inclusive for everyone.<\/p>\n

March 31st<\/sup> marks Transgender Day of Visibility, a day dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of the discrimination faced by them worldwide. As allies, this shouldn\u2019t be the only day to consider the needs of the transgender community. There is much we can do to continue building inclusive spaces for all, including our transgender colleagues and friends, every day.<\/p>\n

Beyond this, the 3 steps below are a starting point to help you on your journey as you continue to understand, empathize and support our transgender colleagues.<\/p>\n

Step 1: Start with equality literacy<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a wealth of terminology* around gender and sexual orientation that is constantly evolving. In continuing Bloomberg\u2019s commitment to an open and inclusive workplace, we\u2019ve outlined key terms below to help you get started. These definitions can vary by person but if we take the time to understand them, it will help facilitate authentic dialogue and foster deeper relationships for a more supportive workplace.<\/p>\n

Agender: <\/strong>A person who does not identify with any gender.<\/p>\n

Cisgender: <\/strong>A term used to describe an individual whose gender identity aligns with the one typically associated with the sex assigned to them at birth.<\/p>\n

Gender identity:<\/strong> One\u2019s deeply held personal, internal sense of being male, female, some of both, or neither.<\/p>\n

Nonbinary:<\/strong> A person who identifies as neither exclusively a man nor exclusively a woman. They may identify as partially a man, or partially a woman, or a combination, or neither. Nonbinary people may or may not identify as transgender.<\/p>\n

Pronouns: <\/strong>The set of pronouns that a person uses to describe themselves, and that they should be described by. (e.g., him, he, she, her, ze, hir, they).<\/p>\n

Transgender: <\/strong>A person whose gender identity or expression is different from their gender assigned at birth.<\/p>\n

Transition: <\/strong>The process one goes through to discover and\/or affirm their gender identity. This can, but does not always, include taking hormones, having surgeries, or going through therapy.<\/p>\n

* More working definitions here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Step 2: Understand what makes an ally<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allies are constantly learning. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Allies are people who don\u2019t necessarily know all that can be known on LGBTQ+ issues or about people who are LGBTQ+, but they\u2019re proactive and take steps to educate themselves.<\/p>\n

Allies listen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allies may not always know the right thing to say but they\u2019re open to listening without judgement or criticism.<\/p>\n

Allies address their barriers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Allies are people who might have to grapple with some barriers to being openly and actively supportive of people who are LGBTQ+, and they\u2019re willing to take on the challenge.<\/p>\n

Allies are people who know that \u201csupport\u201d comes in many forms<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There is no one way to be an ally and everyone gets to adopt the term in a different way. It can mean expressing support in more personal ways through the language we use, conversations we choose to have, and signals that we send. It can also mean something more public (think marching in a Pride celebration with a sign reading, \u201cPROUD ALLY\u201d). True allies know that all aspects of ally expression are important, effective, and should be valued equally.<\/p>\n

Step 3: Stay educated and get involved
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There are simple and impactful things we all can do to help members of this community thrive. As an ally, here are a few ways to stay educated and get involved.<\/p>\n