Dear readers,

This pride month, we’re creating a new series of LGBTQIA-themed roundups. Following on from our first Transgender-themed roundup, we’ve made this new collection for you all to read and appreciate the ups and downs that members of this community experience on a daily basis.

Some of these stories contain positive experiences, some contain hurtful expressions from ignorant people, some just show little someone’s gender really should matter in the grand scheme of things. Either way, we hope you take what you need from this roundup to better appreciate your fellow human!

Transcending A**-Holes – At least the right people were kicked out.

Cats Know Better Than Some Humans – Further proof that we should all accept our fate as underlings to our cat overlords…

Store Of The D***ed, Part 2 – This story is almost ten years old but sadly we still see it happening today.

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I walked into the woman’s restroom to see a man standing in front of the stalls, looking confused. I stepped back out to make sure I was in the right bathroom. I was.

Me: “Um, sir?”

Man: “Is this one of those [transgender slur] bathrooms?”

Me: “I’m, uh…”

I didn’t know what that slur meant at the time.

Me: “No?”

Man: “Where are the urinals?”

Me: “They’re next door… in the men’s bathroom.”

He looked at me, looked around, spotted the feminine product dispenser on the wall, and walked out.

Man: “Oh, d*** it!”

He hurried into the men’s room without another word.

There was a woman who worked at my station. She was a filthy and disgusting person, both physically and in personality.

One day on the TV in the office, they were talking about an LGBT+ event going on.

Coworker: “Oh, those people are sick and disgusting. Why can’t they keep to themselves?”

THEN, she had the nerve to smile, look at me, and say:

Coworker: “Am I right?”

I had just gotten a “Legalize Gay” shirt like two days before, so I made a point to wear it to work the next day. [Coworker] saw me in that shirt and her face dropped. I made a point to walk into my captain’s office before changing into my uniform to file a formal complaint against this woman for her discriminatory comments.

She never said anything else to me after that day.

Our manager retired recently, and a new manager was assigned to take her place. On his first day, he tries to meet with everyone, but it’s apparent that he’s doing so more to learn faces than to build connections, and he’s not putting in any effort to be friendly. Still, I decide to put up with him at first, knowing everyone else well enough to at least direct him when he’s looking for someone.

[Coworker], who is non-binary, is on holiday at this time (approved well in advance), which leads to this exchange when [Manager] goes looking for them.

Manager: “Hey, [My Name]. Where could I find [Coworker’s Full Name]?”

Me: “They’re on holiday today. Sorry, I should’ve mentioned—”

Manager: “They? It’s just the one.”

Me: “I know. They’re on holiday.”

Manager: “Who’s ‘they’?”

Me: “[Coworker].”

Manager: “Then don’t say ‘they’! Is it a him or a her?”

Me: “[Coworker] goes by ‘they’.”

Manager: “That’s not a valid answer.”

Me: “It’s not a valid question. [Coworker] goes by ‘they’. When you’re talking about [Coworker], you say, ‘They are on holiday,’ or, ‘They’ll be back tomorrow.’”

Manager: “Who the h*** are they?!”

Me: “[Coworker].”

[Manager] wrote me up for giving him attitude. I immediately informed his boss as to what was going on. By the time [Coworker] got back, we had another new manager.

I am traveling to rural [Southern State] for work, and I’m staying in a hotel. My husband needs to bring me some paperwork that I forgot halfway across the state. We are both men.

I go down to talk to the employee at the front desk.

Me: “Hi, I am leaving for work now. My husband is bringing me some paperwork, but I will not be here because I’ll be working. He will be here in about four hours. Can you please let him into room [number]? His name is [Husband] and he looks like [description].”

Employee: “Huh?”

I repeat my previous statement.

Employee: “Oh. So, your boss is coming with paperwork?”

Me: “No, my husband.”

Employee: “Oh, okay, did you mean your coworker?”

Me: “No, it’s my husband. The man I am married to. We are gay.”

Employee: “Okay, I’ll let your friend in when he gets here.”

I mean, I know it’s rural [Southern State], but have they never had a gay hotel guest? Am I crazy? Anyway, the rest of the hotel staff have been very lovely. I just found this both confusing and amusing.