Free Workshop on Transgender Workplace Issues
Online Registration Now Available at www.tgnetarizona.org!
TUCSON, AZ?The Southern Arizona Gender Alliance (SAGA) today announced the spring schedule for its Arizona Transgender Workplace (ATWORK) Project workshop, a free seminar for employers to learn more about transgendered people and how their issues impact the workplace. Transgendered people are among the groups protected from employment and public access discrimination by the City of Tucson.
For transgender, transsexual and gender-variant people, gender expression is a major factor in their employability. Most transgender people at some point in their lives possess physical or behavioral characteristics that readily identify them as gender-variant, which carries unwarranted but very real social stigma. This leaves them vulnerable to loss of employment, denial of employment, or underemployment, with a potentially devastating effect on them and their families.
Many employers are finding that they lack even the most basic information regarding people who are transgender, transsexual or gender-variant. Managers and co-workers have a vital need for information about the issue of transgenderism and how a person?s gender identity and expression (and the workplace's reaction to it) affects the ability of the business to operate effectively.
ATWORK provides the information, education, and resources that Tucson-area employers need to create safe and secure working environments for their transgender, transsexual, and gender-variant applicants and employees. The ATWORK seminar will be offered three times in Summer 2003, as follows:
? Wednesday May 28, 12:30pm-4:30pm, Pantano Room of the Sentinel Building, 320 NCommerce Park Lp ? Monday, June 16, 12:30pm-4:30pm, Downtown Library Basement Conference Room, 101 N Stone ? Thursday, June 26, 8:30am-12:30pm, Downtown Library Basement Conference Room, 101 N Stone
ATWORK works to secure the cooperation and commitment of area employers to transgender inclusion and overall workplace diversity. It is the first of its kind in the state of Arizona. Attendees will also receive various resource materials, including a free copy of the booklet Arizona Employer's Guide to Transgender Workplace Issues, written by the late Alexander John Goodrum, the Tucson transgender activist who created the seminar.
This free workshop is open to up to two representatives from any company or agency doing business in the Tucson area. Employers and others interested in attending an ATWORK presentation, or who wish further information on SAGA and its programs, should contact SAGA Executive Director Michael Woodward at or by writing to [email protected] as soon as possible.
Southern Arizona Gender Alliance
c/o Wingspan
300 E. Sixth Street
Tucson, Arizona 85705
www.sagatucson.org
www.tgnetarizona.org
Contact: C. Michael Woodward, Executive Director ? [email protected]
