New Team Member wants us all to do a training course on trans awareness

[Enterthewolves]

I am oddly cross about this, new team member appointed - our manager has emailed to say new team member is gender non binary they/them pronouns and wants us all to do an online course (offered by our employer) to inform us about trans issues.

The arrogance is gobsmacking - shall I ask everyone to do a training course on gender critical beliefs?

Good advice about caution - I’ll be working with them a lot

Non-binary is just so silly isn't it.

You don't feel 100% masculine or feminine and want to dress in a gender neutral fashion. Great - you're like 99% of the populace, now why do you want all this attention?

I actually think this too. And then it’s been communicated as colleague wants it.

Remind your manager that while you personally have no issue with what people do in their own time there are legal precedents (hoorah) stating that a persons genuinely held belief that gender woo is a load of woke crap ( I think it is worded slightly differently in the judgements) is perfectly acceptable and legally enforceable, and that it appears to be the employers responsibility to ensure that all training offered is accurate and conforms to legal expectations so advise them to choose their training provider carefully.

why do we think NB needs an awareness course? Are there courses to understand bisexuality I wonder? Will this impact their ability to work? Will Occupational Health need to step in to make adjustments? Is it purely pronouns? You must do it and report back.

I'd probably ask what the business case is for selection of this training over myriad other social awareness training options.

I do think you need to be involved re the legal side of the training. I believe last week a company was found guilty of discrimination after a diversity manager called an employee ‘oppressed’ based on her race. Sounded very CRT to me and I can imagine some of the Trans training could be very ideological.

Could a Christian member of staff request you all go on an Alpha course in order for the rest of the team to understand her beliefs?

I would point out GCC were found guilty of discrimination based on legally wrong information provided by Stonewall and ask what due diligence had been carried out to prevent such an event happening based on wrong advice by the trainer.

My gut response is ‘I want doesn’t get!’

Have you been told it’s compulsory? Can you just quietly ignore? If pushed, I’d be questioning mandatory participation in the other modules you mention.

Busting to know what their sex is.

How does this person know who needs what when they are new? For all they know you could be trans yourself or married to Philip Bunce.

OK, happy to admit that perhaps I'm in need of this course but a non binary person is not trans, are they? So why would a course on trans issues be relevant? A non binary person is not transitioning from one gender to another, are they? Or are they? I guess there are overlaps with trans issues if the non binary person sometimes feels more aligned with a gender that doesn't correspond with their sex but to my mind they are different concepts. Is this right?

Out of interest does any organisation offer a course in GC beliefs? LGB Alliance? anyone?

How long is the course and how many employees have to do it I wonder?

I'm guessing many hours of work lost just so that non-binary bob can flex their non-binary muscles.

Workplaces cannot afford this stuff. And the public sector have bigger priorities. Or should have.

How is their being non-binary relevant in the workplace??

They sound like they're going to be a pile of self-obsessed trouble.

The employer definitely needs to provide a course on ageism and sexism to open new person's eyes to the fact that there are older women in employment whose beliefs are just as valid as theirs (and probably better protected)

Not to mention disability...

I think it's best to do the training without fuss, so it can't be held against you later if anything happens, especially as you'll be working closely together.

If you did get accused of discrimination or anything, It's far better to be able to point to your training attendance, etc to show that you've made an effort to be accommodating in the event that any accusations do arise later.

I've been in a similar situation and the thing that really annoyed me was the presumption that the incoming NB person was some sort of special rare unicorn and that without them there to enlighten us all on trans issues, we'd all be stumbling around in the dark ages. Like we should somehow be grateful for their very presence in our workplace. It's a bizarre attitude, especially when the new person has zero idea who we are or what experience we may already have of such issues.

The manager is probably scared of saying no, so it's easier for them to say yes, especially since it's a low-cost online course which is easy to administer.

Anything in the course that doesn't align with the law or your beliefs can be raised afterwards, but if you complain before you've done the course, it looks like it's the principle of inclusion you have an issue with, whereas if you complain afterwards, it's clearly about the inappropriateness/inaccuracy of the actual content.

No wonder this ideology has ripped through everywhere when everyone just lies down and takes the training.

Stand up for yourselves for fucks sake. If there isn't a training need don't do the training.

a non binary person is not trans, are they? So why would a course on trans issues be relevant?

It's not particularly consistent but NB comes under the trans umbrella (tbh, very little doesn't). This would be better described as wanting you all to accept a course in a niche part of gender ideology.

Bear in mind that there may be similar issues involved around the status of any single sex spaces that you have and, depending upon whether this is a social or medical gender affirmation, there may be an enhanced need for medical leave(e.g., for nullification tx/surgery for neutrois).

You may have plural pronouns (quite straightforward) or neo pronouns.

OK, happy to admit that perhaps I'm in need of this course but a non binary person is not trans, are they? So why would a course on trans issues be relevant? A non binary person is not transitioning from one gender to another, are they? Or are they? I guess there are overlaps with trans issues if the non binary person sometimes feels more aligned with a gender that doesn't correspond with their sex but to my mind they are different concepts. Is this right?

Non binary is part of the "trans umbrella" and many issues are exactly the same. What do you think trans means exactly?

Well I’ve done it - only 30 minutes. Largely talking heads of trans/non binary people telling me how special they were. Suicide mentioned several times, which felt manipulative and unnecessary.

Legally - clear that the protected characteristic is gender reassignment BUT the example of direct discrimination is a clip of a woman not letting a trans-woman into a female loo at work and the training said that direct discrimination is ‘being treated differently to non-trans men and women’

Some of the other examples of discrimination included unpleasant language - fair enough tranny/ladyboy etc is not ok - but another example was misgendering which is a bit more of a grey area I thought?

Also suggestion that you should offer your pronouns - ummmmm….. eff off and a suggestion that excluding someone from a lunch with another colleague could be discriminatory - rather than you know because you don’t like them!

So waiting for my feedback form

training was provided by Global Butterflies

I didn’t do the training because I was compelled I did it so I could check it out - honestly if it had been more than 30 mins I wouldn’t have bothered!

My advice as a team manager would be to do this:

• Non-binary does not equal trans in the sense that the person is not undergoing gender reassignment but it is put under the trans umbrella because they identify with something different to their gender at birth (people who are non binary do not identify as male or female, but as having traits from both genders) . I know this is getting really complicated... If I were you I would suggest instead that the team should do a wider diversity and inclusion training which will cover anything from disability to avoiding ageism/sexism (unless you have already done such a course, in which case point out that diversity and inclusion has already been covered)
• state that you always make sure that you welcome any new employee in the team regardless of their gender or sexual orientation and that you therefore do not require any further detailed training on trans matters and that any training should be optional if they insist on providing it.

As a manager (and someone who actually supports trans rights) I would have no problem about you approaching me with the above.

But if you start getting into any kind of political argument beyond with the new employee or refuse to address them with their chosen pronouns then you will face some issues. Because you can be certain that the employee will make a complaint against you for not using their pronouns and for creating a hostile environment.

My role as a manager is not to settle political arguments or to decide which brand of feminism we should be following, it is about making sure the team does its job and treat each other with basic respect and courtesy when in the office and work well together.

This need for training in order to be able to spend time around a new colleague is weird. I am involved in inter-faith work. So far, I have been able to host people of different religions to me, and to be a guest at their events, without causing or taking any offence. Somehow we have all managed to rub along together and get things done together, while understanding that we have different and often contradictory deeply held beliefs. And all this without any training whatsoever.

Could it be, oh, I wonder, could it possibly be because all of us are interested in building bridges and none of us believe that we have the right to impose our belief systems upon non-believers?