Orange County Program Trains Businesses to Welcome Transgender Workers

Pickle jars and pineapple on the right. Breakfast cereal and bagels over there. Riley Williams muttered these words as he ran his hands along the shelves.

Familiarizing himself with his new job at a grocery store in Orange County, he stopped by the break room and noticed the work schedule. His hours were listed next to the name his parents had given him, not the name he had chosen since he had come out as transgender. 

“I felt an overwhelming sense of dread and panic,” said Williams. When he asked his bosses to change the name, they refused.

In the next few months, his employers reminded him of an identity he did not associate with every time they placed his work schedule on the wall. When colleagues called Williams by his old name, he felt they were making fun of him. 

Williams’ experiences led him to the job of LGBTQ Health & Trans* Services Coordinator at the Orange County LGBTQ Center in Santa Ana. Now, he creates training material for the Cultural Competency Training program, the center’s workforce initiative to educate businesses about the LGBTQ community.

“It’s really about stopping [discrimination] before it happens to the next person,” said Williams.

A survey from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law found that 0.45% of adults 25 or older in the U.S. are transgender, while the percentage is nearly three times as high among those 18 to 24 years old. 

As these openly transgender youth enter the workforce in higher numbers, more companies are using training programs to help employees adjust. More than 400 businesses have used the Cultural Competency Training to educate workers on matters such as bathroom use and gender-affirming care. Their lessons include the difference between gender identity and sex, the usage of pronouns, and the importance of hormone therapy. Clients include the city of Irvine, Southland Integrated Services and Jamboree Housing.  

Today’s transgender youth are finding a more accepting work environment compared to past generations.

“I’ve had a lot of people in my life who want me to be strong and who’ve encouraged me to be strong, and that strength has led me to have confidence,” said Aspen Strawn, a transgender high school student in Orange County.

Strawn pointed to transgender rights pioneers who have led the way through the creation of workforce training programs. Started by the Human Rights Campaign, the Corporate Equality Index is a nationwide scale that indicates how equitable a business is toward the LGBTQ community. The index (scored from -25 to 100) bases its grades on workforce protections, inclusive benefits and culture and social responsibility. These days, major companies often post their CEI scores on their websites.

Although many large businesses, such as Walt Disney Co. and Apple Inc., have perfect CEI scores and are known to support workforce inclusion, not all corporations go that far. 

“I’m just not a big believer that big business has any strong interest in improving conditions,” said Arielle Rebekah, a transgender activist based in Chicago.

Hobby Lobby, for example, has been known for its anti-LGBTQ stances. In 2021, the company fought a legal battle to deny a transgender employee access to the women’s restroom. Businesses such as Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Twitter attained low scores, 30 and -25, respectively, on the 2023 CEI Index.

However, Assemblymember Chris Ward, D-San Diego, is not deterred by these corporations. 

He believes AB 1955 (SAFETY Act), his recently introduced bill, which will prevent forced outings of LGBTQ students, provide resources to their parents and protect educators who support them, is a step in the right direction.

“It’s important that … we don’t cower to the opposition forces that are trying to deny us identity and deny us who we are,” Ward said. “That we stand up, that we affirm and we really recite our pride in who we are.”