The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has created internal guidance for how employees should handle a co-worker who changes his or her gender identity.
The DOI circulated a bulletin in Sept. 2023 titled “Supporting Gender Transition in the Federal Workplace,” a document disclosed by the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project shows. (RELATED: Heritage Foundation Presses FBI On Tactics Used To Fight Records Requests)
It is now the policy of the U.S. government to include “gender identity” as a protected class pic.twitter.com/qBLH3ekg9o
— Oversight Project (@OversightPR) December 19, 2023
“The purpose of this policy is to ensure that all employees are treated in a professional and respectful manner including individuals who are transitioning or have transitioned, as well as those who are gender nonconforming and/or non-binary who seek to legally, medically, socially, and/or physically transition or expand their gender identity,” the DOI bulletin begins.
The DOI defines a range of ideological terms, including “gender identity,” “gender non-binary,” “gender nonconforming” as well as what it means to change genders. An individual’s “gender identity” is entirely an “internal sense” of being the gender of their choice, according to the DOI.
In the document, employees are told to refer to co-workers with “affirming” pronouns and managers are given the responsibility of training employees to do so. Pronouns ranging from “they/them” to “zi/zir/zirs” and “xe/xem/xyrs” are covered by the new DOI policy.
Failure to use a co-worker’s new pronouns or respect the individual’s gender transition could constitute “unlawful discrimination,” the bulletin says.
READ THE DOCUMENT:
All DOI employees are given permission to use the restroom of their choice and dress based on their perceived gender identity within industry standards. Employees who are gender transitioning are not required to undergo sex-change operations to become eligible for gender-specific assignments.
DOI workers undergoing apparent changes in gender are also urged to correct co-workers who make “mistakes” by “referring to the transitioning employee by their dead name/gender/pronouns as opposed to their affirming name/gender/pronouns.”
Employees are not allowed to discuss the transitioning person’s medical condition unless they are discussing information disclosed by the transitioning individual.
The DOI suggests using resources from the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), both left-wing activist organizations that support sex-change operations for minors.
The DOI did not respond to a request for comment.