I’m humbled that GLAAD has nominated me again for an award in the Outstanding Digital Journalism Article category. Ever since I won in that category last year for my Splinter piece on the erasure of bisexual men, I have kept the award on my desk. (At first, actually, I had to leave the trophy with my brother in Los Angeles because it looks like a Clue murder weapon and there was no way I was going to risk taking it through airport security. Then, a few months later, I retrieved it in person. But ever since then it has been on my desk, reminding me to keep trying to do my best work.)
Thank you, GLAAD!
This time around, I’ve been nominated—alongside some amazing articles—for my Daily Beast article on non-binary inclusion in the workplace. You can read that article here: “Workplaces Need to Prepare for the Non-Binary Future.” As was the case with “Why Bisexual Men Are Still Fighting to Convince Us They Exist,” this article was a labor of love—a feature idea I had, kindled, and somehow found the time for amid dozens of other shorter assignments. I first got interested in the subject when a relative who worked in Human Resources for another company told me that she was required to conduct visual inspections of employees who refused to tick off certain demographic checkboxes on federally-required forms. If someone refuses to check off “male” or “female,” for example, HR essentially picks one for you based off your appearance.
I couldn’t believe it.
A few months later, this article was born. I want to thank AC Dumlao, program manager for the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund, for their expertise in this area, and Allen Smith, manager of workplace law content at the Society for Human Resource Management, for walking me through the legal nitty-gritty. But above all, I have to give my gratitude to all the non-binary folks—most of whom spoke to me on condition that they would remain anonymous—who contributed to this article. As a binary transgender woman who has all her paperwork in order, I was blown away by the challenges that non-binary employees are currently facing. The least I could do was try to shine a light on that predicament—and I’m glad the piece seems to have resonated.
Samantha Allen 