Your attempt to argue this is somehow vague or a slippery slope is silly - most workplaces seem to have not a tremendous amount of trouble with this, even though it is not rigorously defined.
Agreed. I am transgender, lesbian, asexual and polyromantic, and none of these things have I ever had so much as a discussion about at my office, nor have they sparked any 'political' discussion. (I work at one of the major 5 banks in Canada).
Serious question, how does being lesbian (sexual attraction description) go along with being asaxual, which I understand to mean the lack of sexual attraction to others?
"lesbian" is not a "sexual attraction" description, it is an "attraction description" for which one possible dimension of attraction can be sexual. Same-sex attraction is no more exclusively about a desire for intercourse than opposite sex attraction. It's entirely possible to have a romantic attraction of any kind without also feeling a desire to engage in intercourse.
I shudder to think about your love life, if you solely define your relationships on sexuality alone. Sexuality is a step from an emotional state to a physical expression of that, of course outside of prostitution and casual hook-ups. And I don't mean that in a negative way, I just...feel sorry for you.
I'm a trans lesbian as well. I've had discussions about it at work. When coming out, I asked my coworkers to use she/her pronouns. I might mention my partner, or I mention to my manager that I'm going to need to leave work at X for electrolysis. I consider my being trans as an "open secret", where I won't open conversations with it, but I will mention it when I find it naturally relevant to the conversation. This works well for me because I have the privilege of passing as cis.
All of these are regular everyday things for me, but I've had people tell me that even asking for basic respect is "disagreeing with their political opinion". The real problem is where the line is drawn, or whether a line can even be drawn.
I'm baffled by the level of ignorance in these comments, I'm used to a far higher awareness and intelligence in HN comments.
The comments about being dependent on one's sexuality, or 'making it up,' and thusly being prepared to accept being mocked, are particularly disturbing.
The inability to separate a romantic and sexual nature is more so just surprising.
I wish more people realized this. I think many perceive more issues where there are simply usually not, because of increased access to information. Most people don't really care what you are or who you vote for as long as you show up, are pleasant, and do your job well. Capitalism is, in many ways, the great equalizer: money is green no matter who holds it.
no but the way we talk about it is. we typically use vocabulary to describe orientation that is relative to gender identity. that is, a person who is attracted to men is gay if they identify as a man or straight if they identify as a woman.
that said, "transgender lesbian" shouldn't be too hard to parse unless you've been living under a rock for the last fifteen years.
