The Forgotten ‘T’
The T in GLBT represents transgender individuals,
a minority within the minority facing a kind of discrimination and disrespect that few, even within the
gay and lesbian community, have considered.
M. Dru Levasseur faced challenges few other stu-
dents encounter when he transitioned during law
school. “People met me as female and under a dif-
ferent name,” says the 2006 graduate of Western
New England College School of Law, “and there was
no way for me to have a different way to come out.”
One of Levasseur’s biggest challenges was how to
address his gender
identity during the
hiring process.
“A lot of my jobs out-
ed me, so I said on my
cover letter that I was
a transgender attorney,”
he says. “During an
interview, one person
asked, ‘Do you really
think it’s a good idea
to tell people you’re a
transgender attorney?’
I said, ‘Yes, I do. In
fact, I think it’s a strength that I’ve gone through the
challenge of transitioning, and I’m still a great attor-
ney and have achieved in spite of all the extra
stress.” He got a job offer there.
Levasseur also faced outright discrimination. “I was
on a second interview [at a Northeastern office of a
national firm], and the partner asked, ‘What’s transgender?’ ” he recounts. “I started telling him, and he
interrupted and said, ‘There are no gay people at the
Shannon
Minter
“I think we’re still very
much at the phase where
most corporations and law
firms would simply not
consider a transgender
candidate if they knew.”
—Shannon Minter
PHOTOGRAPH BY TRISH TUNNEY
firm. If you wanted to start a gay group, you’d be the
only one in it.’ ”
Limited Prospects
Levasseur, now a staff attorney at the Transgender
Legal Defense & Education Fund in New York City,
believes his candor about being a transgender
attorney dented his job prospects.
“I felt like my choice to be an out transgender
attorney limited my options,” he says. “Diversity is
coming around and it’s a hot topic, but being a
transgender attorney is still an issue.”
Shannon Minter transitioned in the mid-1990s
after serving for three years as a staff attorney at the
National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco.
Today he’s the organization’s legal director. Last
March, he argued to overturn California’s Proposition
8, which bans same-sex marriage, before the state’s
supreme court.
“I’ve never tried to get hired by a firm, but I’ve had
some offers along the way,” Minter says. “But that
happened only after people had a chance to work
with me and get to know me over a period of time.
“I think we’re still very much at the phase where
most corporations and law firms would simply not
consider a transgender candidate if they knew,”
Minter says. “People have a lot of biases and
stereotypes, and they think it’s very weird, strange
and off-putting. That’s a shame.”
Arin Reeves, an inclusiveness consultant and
president of the Athens Group in Chicago, agrees.
“Even though a lot of organizations are saying GLBT,
what they really mean is L and G,” she says. “When
you ask firms, ‘Have you put anti-discrimination prac-
tices in place that would really allow you to focus
on discrimination against transgender attorneys?’
you’ll find most employers haven’t done that. There’s
some movement forward with gay and lesbian issues,
but there’s still a lot of work to be done with trans-
gender issues.”
Minter adds that “many gay, lesbian and bisexual
folks in the everyday work world who aren’t deeply
involved in political advocacy are uncomfortable
with transgender people.
“It’s particularly painful. There’s an expectation
that if someone is lesbian or gay, they’ve experienced
discrimination or been treated differently, and you’d
expect them to be naturally sympathetic. That’s
sometimes true, but not always.”
