Becoming trans-inclusive means change at the policy level.
Our healthcare facility exists because women's rights activists demanded safe access to abortion procedures, a right that we are still defending today. We appreciate the leaders who made our work possible, while honouring the many gender diverse individuals that their movement erased from history.
The most privileged in an underserved group often believe that their priorities are universal, suggesting that marginalized individuals must wait for progress to reach them. As a result, abortion clinics have arisen as heavily gendered, cis-heteronormative spaces, and are often even called “women’s clinics.” Yet we believe that trans, non-binary, gender nonconforming and intersex individuals - who we know have championed abortion rights in recent years - have always contributed to building these spaces, and needed our services.
In the midst of celebrating the 2SLGBTQIA abortion providers among our team, we want to acknowledge that Choice in Health historically erased the identities of our own staff and board, and others who may have felt excluded from working here. In 2020 our hiring policy still officially stated that candidates for any position must identify as women. Our current staff were not working when this policy was introduced, but it became part of the legacy we inherited, and our responsibility to address it. We can speculate about the impact this statement may have had before we finally took the time to review it.
Since our current staff joined the team, hiring practice diverged from policy, in that job postings did not expressly exclude applicants of any gender. We upheld an unsafe culture for trans, non-binary and intersex staff to come out, however, by informally talking about how our team members were all women. It was essential to eliminate any grey area to ensure all staff and board members knew that they could share their gender identity or transition without being fired, and that they would receive full support from the organization.
We made sure our hiring policy explicitly welcomed applicants of all genders, and last year, we developed a Transitioning at Work policy that any of us can reference on our internal file-sharing platform. While we drew from guides created by government entities and community organizations, we acknowledged our unique history and the work we must do as abortion providers to be more inclusive of folks of all genders. Rather than starting with a hierarchical, bureaucratic approach to transitioning in the workplace, we validated the fact that individuals may want to start by seeking the support of trusted colleagues. Our trainings have helped equip team members to fulfill this role. It was important for the staff creating the policy that it state that transitions can go from moment to moment, which reflected our own experiences.
In April, 2021 we attended a workshop with The 519 on Fostering 2SLGBTQIA Inclusive Environments, in which we committed to creating a brave space, acknowledging that "we all carry scars, and have caused wounds," so we, and our space "will not be perfect." Beyond our workshop space, we intend everyday to hold both our acceptance of our limitations, and the responsibility to examine what we think we know in interactions with clients and colleagues.
In all conversations and documentation, we have adopted gender neutral descriptors of our client population, individuals that may be pregnant, birth control and other products we provide, as well as body parts. Despite doing this work, we know we have made the mistake of misgendering a client; and we have both treated the incident seriously and not allowed ourselves to stall here. Each interaction with clients is a unique opportunity to ensure that the onus of teaching us does not fall to them, while also creating space for individuals to share about their own specific needs.
To return to the invitation to brave space, this “will be our space together, and we will work on it side by side.” We are grateful to the people who needs our services, who hold us accountable and push us to be more inclusive. We see our roots within a white supremacist, cisheteropatriarchal, ableist medical system, even as our understanding of what it means to be an anti-oppressive organization evolves.