For my last minute, I'm going to invite you to take on for the rest of this conversation today a different gender identity than you actually have. If you are a cisgendered man, I invite you to consider that you are really a woman dressed today as a man, and imagine all the way through this conversation that somebody might out you. In order to make me and you feel welcome in an IRB hearing, what would you want?
First of all, you would want people to take the trouble to ask you how you identify. You can't tell by looking, you always have to ask. We have a set of name tags, he, she, they, them, and blank. How would you make sure that your claimants feel safe? What do your washrooms say? Do they say transpeople welcome, or do they simply have a sign on the washroom?
Would it be helpful to you as the claimant if the chair said, “I know I'm going to have to ask you some really sensitive and personal questions. I understand they may be uncomfortable for you, but I'm going to be asking them, in any case.”
Mr. Chair, I can stop there for now.