Kimberly Marie Kelly
10-27-2009, 10:41 PM
Today I spoke with Elaine my HR manager in regards to my official coming out at work. To state some other events, I have essentially been presenting as a woman for close to 10 month's now and only recently in the last 3-4 weeks wearing a bra fulltime. Otherwise I've been wearing makeup and jewelry and feminine clothing now for a long time. So most people suspect something is happening to me. I have spoken with about 20+ people personally, letting them know I'm Trans and in the process of transitioning, ie; taking hormones etc. I have also filed a name change petition in Lehigh County to change my legal name to Kimberly Marie Kelly, the date for my hearing is November 30th. Things are moving fast now..
As I said, I have scheduled a date with HR to officially come out at work to all employee's. The announcement will be at a company venue we call the town hall meeting where company news is presented to all employee's. My transition will be announced at this meeting on November 25th. I will be away on vacation that week and returning on December 1st. When I return my legal name will be Kimberly Marie Kelly. During this meeting on the 25th, people will be told to address me as Kimberly, to use pronouns such as 'she' and 'her' when talking about me etc. They will be reminded about the companies diversity policies as well as the sexual, workplace harassment policies. The companies restroom policy in my case was decided by the Legal and HR dept. I will be using the women's room and there will be no lock on the door required.
When I return on December 1st, it will be a different, I have also formulated a coming out letter that I will email to other people that I work with at other divisions or offices to let them know about my transition and name change. I have copied it below for reference. The letter was written originally by someone else coming out in a educational setting but I modified it and changed it somewhat to suit my situation. Elaine my HR manager has approved it for me to send out to others over our email system.. I am very happy to have set a date now and I'm very anxious now and can't wait. So far everyone I've talked too has been supportive and accepting. Here is the letter I will sending via email on the 1st of December.
My friends and fellow associates,
I suppose that many of you have noticed the gradual changes in my appearance over the past couple of years. There is a reason for this, and the intent of this message is present an explanation. For most of my life, I have presented myself as a male. I've never been fully comfortable in this role, but felt that, considering my physical appearance, this would at least make my life less complicated. Until several years ago, it had. But the time came when I realized that I was not only unhappy, but that I was not being true to myself or to my children. This concerned me to the extent that I sought professional help.
This resulted in a diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder, or simply, GID. It is extremely difficult for me to try to explain exactly what this is or what may be the cause of it, but perhaps the best explanation would be to think of "sex" as one's physical appearance, and "gender" as one's feeling of 'self'. In most people these two correspond. In some, these do not and the resulting discomfort has been known to lead to severe alcohol and/or drug abuse, psychological illnesses, behavioral difficulties, and even suicide. I've been fortunate this has not been the case for me.
Although this explanation appears to be very simple on the surface, it is extremely complicated and does not have a clearly understood cause. It is also fairly rare. As a medically recognized condition it does have an established treatment program. I am currently receiving this treatment. The result of this will be what appears to be a `change' in my gender role. To me, however, this is a correction to my life-long feeling of my true gender.
On December 1st of this year, I will cease my role as `Michael' and I will be `Kimberly'. As of that date my name will have been legally changed to `Kimberly Marie Kelly'. All company records including my telephone number, address, email address, etc will be adjusted to reflect this change.
I know that this message will come as quite a surprise to some of you, but please do not let this be a problem within our company. This is a private and deeply personal issue for me and as such, I urge each of you to make the distinction between personal issues and the professionalism required in our work environment. It is my desire to continue to interact with each of you as effectively as we have in the past.
In closing, I would like to say that I have never been as happy in my life as I am at this time. Please do not hesitate to speak with me directly with any questions that you might have concerning this. I am quite comfortable with all of this and I will answer your questions as truthfully and as sincerely as possible.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Marie Kelly formerly Michael Kelly
To others considering a transition at work, I can say if you do it slowly appearance wise, people get used to it and when you finally talk with them about it they accept it easier for I think a couple of reasons, one they see you being comfortable and confident with being yourself, expressing yourself and secondly, as they interact with you they see you are the same person you have always been, a friend, a co-worker. So I say to you, don't let the fear rule you and keep you from being you.
Kimberly Marie Kelly :battingeyelashes:
PS; I can't remember who worded the letter, it came from someone else on this site who came out at work in an educational setting, I wanted to express to this other woman and let her know I thought her wording was very well worded and hope she doesn't mind me using her format, I changed it to suit my situation but not by much.. Thank you.
As I said, I have scheduled a date with HR to officially come out at work to all employee's. The announcement will be at a company venue we call the town hall meeting where company news is presented to all employee's. My transition will be announced at this meeting on November 25th. I will be away on vacation that week and returning on December 1st. When I return my legal name will be Kimberly Marie Kelly. During this meeting on the 25th, people will be told to address me as Kimberly, to use pronouns such as 'she' and 'her' when talking about me etc. They will be reminded about the companies diversity policies as well as the sexual, workplace harassment policies. The companies restroom policy in my case was decided by the Legal and HR dept. I will be using the women's room and there will be no lock on the door required.
When I return on December 1st, it will be a different, I have also formulated a coming out letter that I will email to other people that I work with at other divisions or offices to let them know about my transition and name change. I have copied it below for reference. The letter was written originally by someone else coming out in a educational setting but I modified it and changed it somewhat to suit my situation. Elaine my HR manager has approved it for me to send out to others over our email system.. I am very happy to have set a date now and I'm very anxious now and can't wait. So far everyone I've talked too has been supportive and accepting. Here is the letter I will sending via email on the 1st of December.
My friends and fellow associates,
I suppose that many of you have noticed the gradual changes in my appearance over the past couple of years. There is a reason for this, and the intent of this message is present an explanation. For most of my life, I have presented myself as a male. I've never been fully comfortable in this role, but felt that, considering my physical appearance, this would at least make my life less complicated. Until several years ago, it had. But the time came when I realized that I was not only unhappy, but that I was not being true to myself or to my children. This concerned me to the extent that I sought professional help.
This resulted in a diagnosis of Gender Identity Disorder, or simply, GID. It is extremely difficult for me to try to explain exactly what this is or what may be the cause of it, but perhaps the best explanation would be to think of "sex" as one's physical appearance, and "gender" as one's feeling of 'self'. In most people these two correspond. In some, these do not and the resulting discomfort has been known to lead to severe alcohol and/or drug abuse, psychological illnesses, behavioral difficulties, and even suicide. I've been fortunate this has not been the case for me.
Although this explanation appears to be very simple on the surface, it is extremely complicated and does not have a clearly understood cause. It is also fairly rare. As a medically recognized condition it does have an established treatment program. I am currently receiving this treatment. The result of this will be what appears to be a `change' in my gender role. To me, however, this is a correction to my life-long feeling of my true gender.
On December 1st of this year, I will cease my role as `Michael' and I will be `Kimberly'. As of that date my name will have been legally changed to `Kimberly Marie Kelly'. All company records including my telephone number, address, email address, etc will be adjusted to reflect this change.
I know that this message will come as quite a surprise to some of you, but please do not let this be a problem within our company. This is a private and deeply personal issue for me and as such, I urge each of you to make the distinction between personal issues and the professionalism required in our work environment. It is my desire to continue to interact with each of you as effectively as we have in the past.
In closing, I would like to say that I have never been as happy in my life as I am at this time. Please do not hesitate to speak with me directly with any questions that you might have concerning this. I am quite comfortable with all of this and I will answer your questions as truthfully and as sincerely as possible.
Sincerely,
Kimberly Marie Kelly formerly Michael Kelly
To others considering a transition at work, I can say if you do it slowly appearance wise, people get used to it and when you finally talk with them about it they accept it easier for I think a couple of reasons, one they see you being comfortable and confident with being yourself, expressing yourself and secondly, as they interact with you they see you are the same person you have always been, a friend, a co-worker. So I say to you, don't let the fear rule you and keep you from being you.
Kimberly Marie Kelly :battingeyelashes:
PS; I can't remember who worded the letter, it came from someone else on this site who came out at work in an educational setting, I wanted to express to this other woman and let her know I thought her wording was very well worded and hope she doesn't mind me using her format, I changed it to suit my situation but not by much.. Thank you.