Welcome to TNW Pride 2020!
All throughout June well highlight articles that focus on representation for LGBTQPIA+ people in the STEM communities.
Credit: Nicole Gray
It feels weird to talk about trans and non-binary people right now.
It feels odd to celebrate Pride while the US governmentattacks its own citizens.
But it also feels necessary because these are not separate struggles.
Black trans women are among the most at-risk communities in the world.
In 2018one agencytracked the murders of 26 trans people in the US and all but five were black women.
Around the world,more than 300trans or non-gender-conforming people were murdered in 2019.
Its fitting that the flag we fly for Pride is a rainbow.
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It feels like so little progress has been made.
Blacks are still murdered in the streets and US employers canlegally fire a queer personfor not being heterosexual.
As of right now, STEM is not a safe space for them.
Knights pronouns are they/them and, to be honest, I was nervous about the interview.
I just knew I was going to say she or he orsomething really stupid.
Its not that I dont have exposure to trans or non-binary people.
And its not that Im not an ally I came out last week.
Its just… well its hard and its scary because it isnt normal.
Ive interviewed hundreds of people.
But interviewing Knight was different.
It shouldnt have been, but it was.
And thats the problem.
I asked why pronouns mattered to trans and non-binary people, Knight said:
Were not safe.
Their words lingered for a moment before I pressed the issue.
I asked why it matters at all.
Im thinking about my long, beautiful (thats right) red hair.
I wouldnt be offended if someone mistook me for a woman and said hey maam.
But then Im thinking about my big, red, wizard beard.
When I turn around, the person who misgenders me will feel foolish.
Theyll probably apologize and get it right next time.
Knights experience has been different.
Theres a gap … in how serious people think this is because its not something theyve fought for.
Theres no such thing as anaccidental transphobe.
It doesnt matter to them that science and history arent on their side.
[Because of] social media we have a voice.
Even if were not getting represented in the media, you cant deny were here.
You know we exist.
Bigots not withstanding, this is a system that doesnt work foranyof us.
But, I also benefit from a lot of privilege.
Trans and non-binary people have been aroundsince the dawn of time.
People havent changed, language has.
I asked Knight about the STEM community in specific.
As they put it:
Just because youre marginalized in some ways doesnt mean youre not problematic in others.
Someone from a marginalized community who can determine whether your message is accurate, sensitive, and representative.
And that last part, representation, is where the STEM world currently fails trans and non-binary people.
Decades ago nearly every textbook, research paper, and technical manual were written froma mostly male perspective.
He and him, like mankind and manned flight, were the status quo.
But without representation there can be no progress.
Women are still an underpaid, under-employed minority group in the STEM fields.
However, theres been incremental change over the decades.
Trans and non-binary people are waiting patiently to be included too.
The first thing we canalldo is get pronouns right.
So lets start there.
Knight has four simple tips for everyone, and they meaneveryone.
Because none of this works unless we all join in.
When trans and non-binary people stand up for themselves, theyre drawing even more attention to howdifferentthey are.
But they arent different.
We all have pronouns.
We should all put our pronouns in our bios and social media profiles.
And we should use ambiguous language when we talk about groups of people.
We arent, for example, the men and women who work for this company, were thepeopleyou employ.
More importantly, its time for STEM to invest in the trans and non-binary community.
Because theres a lot more trans and non-binary people out there than you think.
If youre not leaving the light on you shouldnt be surprised when you cant find them.
Theres a silver lining though.
