Can Workplaces Work Better for Gender-Expansive Employees?

Sep 15, 2023

As GOP politicians bank on homophobic and transphobic rhetoric, policies, and laws in order to score political points and garner votes, a new study examines the impact such legislation has on gender-expansive workers. It turns out that the vast majority of such workers feel that anti-transgender laws affect their mental health. More than half say the increase in anti-LGBTQ laws impacts their ability to do their jobs.

Liz Giel, a human-centered design expert, and co-founder and partner at The Coven, spoke with YES! Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about what workplaces can do to improve the environment for gender-expansive workers.

Sonali Kolhatkar is currently the racial justice editor at YES! Media and a writing fellow with Independent Media Institute. She was previously a weekly columnist for Truthdig.com. She is also the host and creator of Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. Sonali won First Place at the Los Angeles Press Club Annual Awards for Best Election Commentary in 2016. She also won numerous awards including Best TV Anchor from the LA Press Club and has also been nominated as Best Radio Anchor 4 years in a row. She is the author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence, and the co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women's Mission. Her forthcoming book is Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice (City Lights, 2023). She has a Master’s in Astronomy from the University of Hawai’i, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. She reflects on her professional path in her 2014 TEDx talk, “My Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host.” She can be reached at sonalikolhatkar.com