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See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna

When people tack on “equal opportunity,” “we encourage minorities to apply,” and “we appreciate diverse candidates,” I hear WE’RE LOOKING FOR YOU, GIRL! After all, I’m just a girl livin’ in the non-profit sector, and when I tell people I want diverse perspectives I mean it. But that sentence: “I’m a queer woman of color who values intersectionality in my work” – it was powerful. It may even be the reason I didn’t get work. But it’s hard to tell why, mostly out of the virtue of intersectionality and the overlapping element of human nature. My friends told me they wouldn’t hire me if they were homophobic or racist, and others told me it seemed weird to “overshare” that kind of information in my application. Nobody supported my affirmative action statement, and everyone told me to take it out. But I can’t. It’s like my name, or my college classes, or my work experience. It’s who I am at work.

I put my statement there because I didn’t want anyone to hire me under false pretenses. *“I’m here, I’m queer, I’m gonna call you out on your neo-colonialist, racist values.”* And don’t fucking say sexist shit to me, dickholes. That was a disclaimer I needed leaving college, which was a bubble of homo euphoria wherein everyone knew better than to fuck with me. I put my statement in my application because my work has never looked like anyone else’s work; my work hasn’t ever advocated for anyone else. I constantly think about intersections and about the folks at the most vulnerable margins of inequality in my work, and I wanted the folks who eventually hired me to be down for my hell-raising when we were planning, coordinating, and discussing. I wanted to know the workplace I was entering was one that would allow me to challenge work that was too easy, work that didn’t dig deep enough, work that didn’t reach enough people.

Carmen Rios via Roundtable: On Coming Out In Our Applications, Interviews, and Lives | Autostraddle | Page 2
Source: autostraddle.com
For a lot of queer people, coming out is a pretty big part of life. Of course there’s your first time, then you come out to your family, or maybe your best friend or those closest to you. But there are also a bunch of other times when you get to decide if you want to come out. Choosing whether or not to come out can have huge effects on your life, your well-being and your relationships. For trans women like me, it’s not quite the same. We do usually get a big coming out moment, but when we do come out as transgender, we don’t really get the option of who we want to come out to. When we start living as our real selves, we are coming out to everyone who knew us previously. A lot of queer women can come out to their family and friends, but choose to not come out at work. That’s not really an option for people like me. When I bump into an old schoolmate or cousin I haven’t seen in ten years, they definitely know that I’m transgender. Additionally, most trans women are also forced to come out every time we need to show a legal document or medical form. … When I apply for a job, I don’t have the option to hide my queerness from a prospective employer. Even when I do “pass,” I still know that my birth certificate and even my driver’s license will out me without my consent. It feels weird for me knowing that these pieces of paper have enough power to take away some of my agency. I’m no longer in total control of my relationships with other people, the opportunities that I’ll have or even my own story. And that sucks, and that’s scary.
Mey via Roundtable: On Coming Out In Our Applications, Interviews, and Lives | Autostraddle
Source: autostraddle.com