Sinned wrote:Yeah, Dave, you may be in a more tolerant part of the US and for that you are fortunate and am envious. … I have the support of colleagues at work and we have an equality policy in place granting me ( hypothetically, at least ) immunity from dismissal for wearing a conformant skirt but I realise the all too real impracticality of wearing a skirt for work in my locale. Please don't assume that even baby steps enables the workplace to be tolerant of what, to them, seems an aberrant activity. … Sorry, Dave, but realities are what they are.
I have worn a skirt at work on one or two occasions when we were having a charity event and it didn't go down well with my managers.
I'm well aware of the realities as well. As best as I can tell we're about the same age so I know the challenges and need for retaining employment. I also know there is a whole lot more acceptance of skirt and dress wearing by men than we give our fellow citizens credit for.
As I have said in numerous posts, thanks to the hard work of the various LGBTQ advocacy groups, there are a number of states in the US that, along with sexual orientation, protect gender expression in the workplace. And yes, under the law, men wearing skirts or dresses is considered allowable gender expression. Even knowing that, before I showed up in work in a skirt, I cleared it with my immediate supervised. In those conversations I never brought up the law and always talked about it as a personal accommodation to me that I was willing to abandon if it proved to be a problem. In all 3 cases, I was accommodated and there was NO problem with coworkers whatsoever.
In this forum I was criticized for asking permission instead of just asserting what my critic regarded as what should be an implied right. But as you suggested Dennis, we all have our own employment situation to consider and have to do what we feel is best. I'm just trying to say we're on more solid footing than most of us imagine and should act accordingly.