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With Donald Trump withdrawing Obama-era federal protection for transgender students in public school restrooms in 2017, and banning transgender service members from the military in 2018, issues facing trans people in the U.S. regularly make headlines. And while 14% of Millennials say they feel their gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth, only 16% of Americans report personally knowing someone who is transgender or non-binary. How does this unfamiliarity play out in the workplace?
With his company, Speaking of Transgender, Scott Turner Schofield has made it his job to train employees at businesses – from Fortune 50 companies to tech giants such as Dropbox, to local gyms and pools – in the best ways to include and respect the gender diverse people who work there or are their customers. “ I help put a face and accurate facts to a community that is too often just a hazy, anxious concept to most people who really just want to be kind to everyone, ” says Schofield. He is hired either to help a company achieve a higher score on the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index; to bring a workplace into compliance with anti-discrimination laws; or because someone is transitioning and co-workers need support to make the experience easier.
As an example, in 2018, Schofield completed an e-course for employees of the pools and beaches of the City of Santa Monica, training them in how to create safety for all users of the changing rooms. California law allows people to enter the facility that matches their gender identity—which may not be reflected in their physical bodies. Front-line staff needed to know how to respectfully calm guests down about this, while also respectfully protecting gender diverse guests who have the legal right to use the space without harassment. Now the course is being used to onboard all employees for the city’s Department of Recreations, and Schofield is also selling it to gyms, schools, and hotels across the country.
“The inspiring part of my job is that every person in the room leaves knowing how to be supportive and respectful not just in their workplace, but also everywhere they go,” Schofield explains. “Administrators become empowered with information to use, for example, at their kid’s school. Lifeguards know how to be an ally instead of a bystander in, say, the restroom at a rock concert. CEOs take the knowledge home to their families, and are ready to say the right thing when someone they love comes out as trans or non-binary.”
Having lived for 20 years as a girl who knew his true gender was male, Schofield has personal experience with trans issues. “Even if I had no words for it or any way to express it, I honored myself as best I knew how until my pathway to transition and living my true gender became clear,” Schofield says. “I have a friend who was nearly blind until an operation gave her sight. Stars, until then, had been only a concept for her, a shape cut out of construction paper. After her surgery, she saw them glitter in the sky. Discovering the transgender community was my ‘first time seeing stars’ moment. I had felt so profoundly alone. Then I learned that people like me had been all around me, shining brightly, all the time.”
It is because he knows the pain of obscurity, of having to fight to prove your value and worth, that Schofield has made it his life work to help people understand what it means to be transgender. “As a trans man, I blend into any crowd of guys. I could easily blend into the background, never tell anyone of my trans experience, and rake in the privilege of not being known as transgender. But I prefer helping everyone see the power in being trans,” Schofield says. “I am lucky to be fueled by the value and meaning of my work. I hear from people who’ve done my workshops and e-courses about their powerful personal development, their families being brought closer together, even of lives that would have ended but didn’t because something vital changed during our time together.”
That having been said, Schofield faces huge challenges. “Nearly every workplace I enter is a toxic one for my community,” he says. “ It is perfectly legal to fire or not hire someone simply because they are gender diverse in 30 states ! It can be difficult not to take it personally.” What keeps him going is knowing that while some people are rolling their eyes and complaining at the back of the room, the majority are experiencing life-altering changes and becoming drastically more inclusive.”
When people ask Schofield when he knew he was transgender, he answers, “It’s something I always knew. When I did find the word to describe my experience, absolutely nothing could stop me from doing what it took to be my authentic self.” Life purpose, he says, is like that: You may not know how to express it, but you know it’s there. At some point, it will become clear to you how to pursue it. “Pay attention to that ineffable clarity. Follow it wherever it takes you, even if that’s outside of your own and everyone else’s comfort zone. Everything I learned as I became who I am—in life and work—is worth every unfortunate, painful moment I experienced along the way. Personal authenticity and helping people change their lives offer a wealth that can never be devalued, and are something no salary can buy.”
