Abstract
Statement of Problem
Transgender soldiers are currently trying to serve openly in the military without the fear of termination due to policy changes by presidential administrations or the military. The Biden Administration is reestablishing Obama Administration policies that support a tolerant and inclusive military for anyone capable of meeting mental and physical standards. The military is trying to implement policies that allow transgender service members to serve openly, but with various stipulations such as length of time a person is stable in the present gender they identify with or current military service to name a few. In this study, I focus my research on negative workplace experiences for transgender individuals who work in an environment (military or unions) where they may be afforded higher degrees of protection against workplace discrimination and compare it to possible casual factors such as age, income, education, race, and geographical region.
Source of Data
I used the 2015 United States Transgender Study (USTS) to assess why transgender individuals experienced negative work outcomes such as staying in the closet or delayed gender transition to avoid transgender discrimination. The survey originally had over twenty-seven thousand respondents, but I based my research off the ten thousand plus respondents who answered a question about negative work experience(s) over the last year circa 2015. The statistical technique I used was multiple regression analysis.
Findings
The probit multiple regression analysis results found several statistically significant influences on negative work outcomes, including, age, education, being in a union, being Latino, Alaska Natives/American Indian, and living in states in the East South Central region (Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee). Notably however, service in the military did not affect negative experiences while being in a union was associated with more negative experiences. The positive relationship of the union variable was unexpected due to my hypothesis of more organized institutions have a better work environment with less discrimination. A possible explanation could be unions have a historical culture of male hierarchy / masculinity and transgender individuals are not perceived to fit into that culture. I conclude with five recommendations to military policy-makers: 1) Continue pro-transgender inclusion policies; 2) Keep standards of mental and physical requirements based off science, facts and data; 3) Increase transgender inclusion training in the East South Central region; 4) Increase outreach to Alaskan Natives / Native Americans and Latino communities; and 5) Create more gender-neutral bathrooms and showers.