Today I started telling my coworkers I am transitioning. Since I’m now on T and hopefully will soon start changing physically, I really need to get used to my new name and living completely as a guy. It will be much easier to do so if I am addressed as Evan at work and people start thinking of me as male. It sounds silly, but it was also very important to me to let people know before our company Christmas party next weekend, because it is semi-formal and I did NOT want to have to dress up like a girl.
EVERY SINGLE person I spoke to congratulated me. It was absolutely amazing. Almost everyone then asked me if I knew Amy, the other developer who is transitioning. When I told the company founder/owner/CEO, not only did he congratulate me, but he hugged me. I thanked him for having created a work environment so accepting employees felt comfortable transitioning. He told me he was happy for me and was glad I felt I could be myself, and had I spoken to Amy? I told him yes, I had, and how remarkable it was that in a company as small as ours there were two transgendered individuals.
When I told the CTO – who incidentally, showed up in drag to a company golf tournament – he said, “Cool – have you met Amy?” I told him yes and he responded, “Awesome – it’s an even swap!” Later in the day he came back to my desk and asked me if I wanted to start being addressed by my new name. I told him I did, and he said, “Ok, Evan, let me know when you want to arm-wrestle.” I laughed and told him I already was a pretty good arm wrestler, but I’d wait until I’d been working out a while so I’d be sure and kick his ass.