Employees of the Social Security Administration were required to watch an online training which warned that the use of preferred pronouns is compulsory and threatened investigations for those deemed noncompliant, as revealed in audio recordings obtained by The Sentinel.
Staff members of the retirement and survivor benefits agency, who were required to complete the “mandatory” training and answer related comprehension questions earlier this month, were informed that all employees and managers must respect the “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” of their coworkers.
The video training centers on a fictional male employee named “Patrick” who starts to identify as a woman named “Patricia” and faces various degrees of hesitance from colleagues. His manager, “Mark,” is depicted as mistakenly calling him “Patrick” and immediately correcting himself, as well as believing that “everyone is entitled” to their own views on gender transitions. Another employee named “Judy” is meanwhile criticized for voicing her disagreement: “I don’t agree with those types of changes, and I believe that we are born who we are. This is nonsense.”
“Mark has a responsibility as a supervisor to maintain a workplace free from discrimination and harassment,” a narration in the training said. “By not impressing upon Patricia’s coworkers the policy requirement to address Patricia by her proper name and pronouns, both he, as well as Patricia’s coworkers, are in violation of the pronoun policy.”
Employees were told that they could report any perceived incidents of discrimination or harassment related to “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” to the Social Security Administration’s Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity, after which a “Harassment Prevention Officer” would launch an investigation and response into the incident. Managers were encouraged to tell employees that they could report examples of “misgendering.”
“Managers, supervisors, and coworkers should use the name and pronouns appropriate to the gender identity of each employee as expressed by the employee,” the narration added. “This applies to communications directly with or about the employee.”
Employees were likewise told to include names and pronouns in email signatures, as well as utilize “gender-neutral language” when referring to other employees in order to avoid assumptions about their sexual orientation and gender identity. Managers were instructed that employees are permitted “safe access to their preferred restroom” and that office dress codes “should not restrict an employee’s clothing or appearance based on gender.”
An accompanying discrimination and harassment policy from the Social Security Administration obtained by The Sentinel likewise said that managers and supervisors should “encourage employees to report when they witness or hear anyone engaging in mockery, harassment, or misgendering.” The document also contained a number of definitions for various gender identities, including “Two Spirit,” described as a “contemporary umbrella term” referencing Native American populations that believe one can have “a blend of female and male spirits.”
President Joe Biden enacted an executive order on his first day in office requiring similar policies across all federal agencies. The mandate seeks to enforce the Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which said that laws against sex-based discrimination also “prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, so long as the laws do not contain sufficient indications to the contrary.”
The White House more recently issued a proclamation designating the month of June as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex Pride Month.”
