When the time came to come out at work, I planned very carefully. I had a job that paid well, and I was good at, and I didn't want to lose it. But coming out at work had to be done. My transition had progressed to the point that people knew something was going on. So I put a lot of thought into it.
The first person I told was our HR person. I was really nervous, to be honest. You never really know how someone is going to react, and so I knew that it might not go well. Sure, you might have an idea of how they will react. But you never know until you know. Thankfully, she was fully supportive.
She and I planned how to tell my immediate supervisor. We had the company policy on discrimination on our side. Mind you, I actually am the one who wrote the policy a few years back, and the company owner had signed off on it. We decided a non-blunt, honest approach would be best because that seemed to best match his personality. We sat him down one day and told him openly and honestly, and I let him know that it was more than okay for him to ask questions. He did, and I responded openly. He turned out to be fully supportive as well.
He asked a few more questions over the next several days, and I did my best to answer them. Thankfully, he was respectful, and asked good questions, including a few that challenged me. One that challenged me was what did I foresee being the biggest issues facing me at work.
I considered that question for a few days, and responded that my biggest concerns were the reaction of the company owner, the chance that some of my employees wouldn't want to work for me, and the possibility of a violent reaction or other confrontation with a customer. So, we talked through those scenarios to try to find the best ways to mitigate those issues.
We gave him a few weeks to digest, and then he, the HR person, and I began planning to tell the Company owner, who is a conservative Christian. We thought it best to talk with him before telling my employees.
I was encouraged by the success of my initial coming out at work. I admit it felt great!
That's the textbook way a company should handle those situations. Glad you got off to a great start, but something tells me there were some storm clouds ahead for you...-Dani
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