Organisations which are difficult to work for if you’re GC

Some charities are an absolute nightmare.

My current charity seems to strike the right balance. And I have a terf colleague.

In my head I know that it's not the individual, but every time I get an e-mail from an NHS employee that shows their pronouns, I think, "You of all people should know better!" If the NHS doesn't believe in biology, what hope is there?

I think I would declare my pronouns, if pressed, as I/me,me,me!

I work for the civil service somewhere rural. I was quite nervous, having read a lot about it on here. So far there has been little evidence of active support for transactivism. Even the induction on DEI was not particularly problematic.

Of all the (many) people I’ve received e-mails from, only two have had he/him in their signatures and there are a couple of different campaign type additions to signatures, though none of the others are political, I don’t think.

The he/him addition did have a link (which I didn’t follow) which said something like “Why did I put this in and why you should too” but I presume everyone else (like me) is ignoring it and perhaps (also like me) rolled their eyes at the attempted proselytism.

Maybe I should write No/Nope and add a link explaining why I will never add pronouns to my signature.

Some organisations are capable of supporting one position on an organisational level (often to very superficial, virtue-signalling type of degree) whilst still tolerating the other position amongst their workforce.

Others, of course, are not.

• *without pronouns in their email signatures and LinkedIn profiles*

@KitchenDancefloor honestly these people get me through the day. Sounds dramatic, I know. But it's true!

I second that not every person in uk universities goes along with the senior leadership anti-gc views.

Look for people:

• zoning out in EDI training or raising eyebrows at the bought in zealots
• without pronouns in their email signatures and LinkedIn profiles
• not wearing rainbow lanyards and badges, or pointedly wearing the old fashioned rainbows without pastel colours
• cascading EDI messages reluctantly, eg 'I have been asked to let the department know about...' and very much distancing themselves from the message. (Thanks lovely old boss).
• pulling you aside and saying 'I could get sacked for saying this to anyone but you, but wtf is [latest initiative] all about'. That one takes some time and trust though 😊

The worst, worst colleagues are the self-proclaimed allies who are on the prowl for offence on behalf of others; living, dead or totally imaginary.

Not really an answer to your question but it's helpful to know that a lot of captured organisations are staffed by people who are keeping their heads down waiting for the madness to pass. But they have mortgages to pay and know which way the wind is currently blowing in HE.

This is definitely true BUT if you keep your eyes and ears open, you will find other gc staff members. There is a silent majority- I've had a couple of very positive conversations with gc colleagues. Crazy that we feel like rebels for understanding basic biology (we're not even in the biology dept 😉)

STEM avoiding IT is usually fine generally.

Parts of Edinburgh Uni. Some absolutely terrifying TRA fanatics there for whom bullying GC women and aggressive transactivism is almost a full time job. The science and engineering based departments generally ok though.

I work at an one of the national museums, so far we seemed immune but there is a new EDI person who is a they/themer and there have been focus groups about setting up staff networks - the focus group I went to had people who were earnestly going on about ‘queer representation’ while the disabled member of staff was basically spoken over. The wind seems to be blowing in the wrong direction.

Aviva. Absolute zealots.

The NHS can be fine, depends entirely on the team. Tbh the trans employees at my Trust are probably about as GC as I am. I will admit I don't talk about it at work because I'm a good 20 years older than most of my colleagues and I just don't think any of them know as many trans people as I do, or have thought about anything beyond the odd training course. They certainly don't have teenage children.

Pretty much any university in the UK is hard to work in if you understand reality. The TRAs are bad but there are also endless opportunities for people to waste time in performative nonsense that helps no one.

In my last team, the only person who was in to pronouns was someone who was desperately desperately kind.

But even she knew people weren't actually changing sexes.

Don't forget that the Civil Service, NHS, schools, councils, banks etc are made up of normal people who know perfectly well that humans can't change sex. Don't give up on any of these organisations.

Yes the civil service but it’s supposed to be impartial so please don’t be put off joining by what is surely a blip, especially now we have SEEN.

Agree re: NHS. In my last team I was out as GC and peaked the rest of the team.

In current team the leaders both have pronoun badges on their lanyards, no way am I bringing it up.

Some people seem to struggle with the idea that the law requires employers not to discriminate against staff whatever their views on the existence of gender identity.

“Making your working life difficult if you are GC” is unlawful. OP is asking for a list of employers which either don’t understand or don’t follow the law.

This list will presumably shorten as more discriminatory employers are taken to the cleaners.

The NHS is not a monolith. If you work in a small, less integrated bit of it, you may find like minds. Trying not to be too specific as you can tell, but I am out as GC (and not alone).

Prison service I think it depends.

Sex offenders prison - views largely typical of this forum
Other prisons - v different trans population of people with very significant mental health problems. Staff generally feel sorry for them.

Arts Council

Much of education seems to have been completely captured but thankfully I think that some people are starting to see the damage that is being caused to vulnerable young people. It is a tanker to turn though as there are a lot of very keen genderist teachers...

Public and third sector organisations seem to be very captured compared to the private sector. That said banking, children's / YA publishing and tech seem to be worse than most when it comes to private sector capture.