Ask the question

They said, "No one has ever asked me that in the three years I've been here."

I said, "WOW! That's hard to believe."

I was at the hair salon, where I spend an inordinate amount of time and money and when people say, "Shelley, I wish I could let myself go natural like you"

Which causes me to fee indignant and respond with an offended tone , "Natural? Are you kidding me? This isn't my natural hair color! I pay a ton of money to get my hair this fake color."

Platinum education in a post for y'all.

Anyway back to the point. I wanted to Venmo a gratuity to the person who shampooed my hair and so I asked the person at the desk

"How does the person who shampooed my hair identify?"

To which they responded, "No one has ever asked me that in the three years I've been here."

My intention is to be mindful and to not misgender others.

Here are some steps we can take to support gender identity

1. We can practice patience, respond thoughtfully and extend compassion as we all navigate through what for many is a big learning curve.

2. We can help educate others.

3. We can educate ourselves.

4. We can choose to conduct ourselves respectfully with regards to a person's gender identity.

5. We can be allies and advocates.

6. We can begin using general inclusive language and use a person's chosen or affirmed name and pronouns.

7. To be inclusive and foster belonging, we can simply ask the question that the person at my hair salon hasn't been asked in the three years they've worked there.

Hopefully this post is simply a reminder.

Have a great day people! Thank you!