Debbie Hayton Debbie Hayton

The Cabinet Office’s transgender toilet muddle

(Getty images)

Transgender people need to be treated with dignity and respect at work. But our rights should not be allowed to ride roughshod over the rights of others. Yet it’s an unfortunate reality that, in the quest for inclusion, some workplace policies do just that – even in the heart of Whitehall.

The Cabinet Office’s ‘Toolkit‘ to support transitioning at work is astonishingly forthright when it addresses the issue of staff toilets:

‘It is assumed that the transitioning employee knows which facilities are the best match for their gender identity. Therefore, the employee should use the facilities closest aligned to their affirmed gender from their first day presenting in it.’

Everyone else, it seems, is expected to like it, lump it, or go somewhere else. If other employees object, managers are told to explain that using the correct facilities forms an important part of gender transition:

We segregate by sex for good reasons

‘If other employees are uncomfortable with this, they should consider using any available alternative facilities.’

If the objections are raised ‘in an appropriate manner’, that is. Otherwise the book may get thrown at them:

‘If objections are raised inappropriately, you may need to consider action under the bullying, harassment and discrimination policy.’

To be fair on the Cabinet Office, statements like these are commonplace in workplace documents. Those reading and harrumphing might want to contact their own HR department and ask for a copy of their office policy. It may be an eye-opener. The language may differ but the message is often much the same. Wiltshire council, for example, states that:

‘Transgender employees are entitled to use the toilets and changing facilities in accordance with the full time gender which they present in their new gender role. If other employees object to this, managers should consider steps to raise general awareness and/or ask the employees who object to use alternative facilities.’

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