Transgender people are members of every community museums engage, from staff and volunteers to visitors and participants. How can your institution create a safe space for people of all genders? This panel discussion will include a brief overview of gender identity before diving into a conversation about successful engagement around the region. Learn from your colleagues, develop strategies to take home with you, and discover resources to shift your museum’s workplace culture.

1. The Transgender Museum
Experience
Creating a Safe Space for Everyone to Work,
Learn, and Play

2. Mac Buff
Tacoma Art Museum
Associate Director of Education for
Student and Teacher Programs
MBuff@TacomaArtMuseum.org
they/them/theirs
Aarin Wilde
Foss Waterway Seaport Museum
Program Manager
aarin.wilde@fosswaterwayseaport.org
they/them or he/him
Maria Ruiz
Museum Consultant
maria.ruiz.arte@gmail.com
she/her/hers
Holly M. Crawford
ESMoA
Director of Education
hcrawford@artlab21.org
they/them/theirs

3. Safe Space
● Be open to learn
● Ask questions if you have them
● Assume respect
● Confidential - personal stuff stays
here
● Be yourself

4. Definitions
LGBTQIA+ : Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual
Transgender/trans: someone who is a gender that is not the same as the sex assigned to them at birth;
encompasses a wide range of experiences and identities
Cisgender: a person whose gender corresponds with their assigned sex at birth
Gender non-conforming (GNC): describes a wide range of identities and experiences of people whose
gender identity or expression differs from their assigned sex at birth
Non-binary: a spectrum of gender identities that are not exclusively masculine or feminine; identities
outside the gender binary
Two-spirit: a modern, pan-Indian, umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe
Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender ceremonial role in their cultures
Third gender: third sex is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by
society, as neither man nor woman. It is also a social category present in societies that recognize three or
more genders.

6. Transitioning
● There’s no right or wrong way
● It’s different for everyone
● Could include any or none of the following…

7. Gender Identity

12. Discussion
What was it like to fill out the Gender Unicorn?
What did you notice about yourself?
What did you notice about social gender roles/norms?

13. Youth Participants
● Inclusive language
○ Make gender-free language a staple of
your programming
○ Always assume, but don’t make
assumptions
● Facilities
○ Make sure youth know their options
● Train your staff
○ Using correct names & pronouns
matters
● Have scripts ready
○ Adults & teachers may push back- be
prepared

14. Collaborative programming for Families, Adults, and Everyone
Collaborate
● Identify an organization or artist(s) to collaborate with;
● Collaboration 101 - Be open to new ways of working;
● Offer space;
● Share the joy!
Language
● Honor pronouns; respect individual personhood
Safety
● Have a plan
● Be ready to talk about the “Why;”
● Don’t let anyone steal your joy!

15. Transgender Staff and Volunteers
● Be proactive
○ Don’t wait until someone comes out
● During transition and hard
conversations, be aware of who’s
in the room
○ Confidentiality
○ Harm reduction
● Leverage allies
○ It’s not the trans person’s job to
educate

16. Strategies for Inclusion
● Applications and forms
○ Legal vs. chosen/preferred name
○ Non-binary pronoun and gender options
● Pronouns (optional!) on:
○ Email signatures
○ Nametags
○ Buttons
○ Introductions
● Restroom options
○ Non-gendered single-user
○ All-gender
○ Inclusive signage and language

17. Intersections
● How intersectional are your institution’s efforts to
create inclusive, safe, engaging spaces and programs?
● Themes from 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS)
by the National Center for Transgender Equality:
● Economic hardship and instability
● Physical and mental health
● Compounding Impact of other forms of discrimination
○ Race/ ethnicity
○ Citizenship status
○ Disabilities
○ Housing status
Accessibility: translations, ADA compliance, affordability of programs/ memberships

18. Allyship
Cisgender allies for Transgender communities:
● Respect
○ Name, pronouns, inclusive language
○ You don’t need to know everything to respect someone’s personhood
○ Practice the Platinum Rule: treat people as they’d like to be treated
● Listen, Learn, & Grow
○ Listen and respect how a trans person speaks about themself
○ Nobody owes you an explanation or an answer to a question
○ Challenge your own assumptions and privileges, be open to feedback
● Act
○ Actively create affirming and welcoming social environments
○ Think & act holistically about inclusion
○ ALL THE TIME, even when you think there’s no trans people around

19. Break-out Sessions
1. Working with transgender, gender non-conforming, and/or questioning youth
2. Community partners
3. Transgender and transitioning staff/volunteers, institutional practices
4. Allyship, Intersectionality
Consider:
● What is your institution already doing to be welcoming of trans people?
● What can your institution do to be more welcoming of trans staff, volunteers,
and participants?
● What questions, concerns, or struggles do you have?

20. Resources
American Alliance of Museums:
● LGBTQ Welcome Guide
● Guides to Gender Transition
PFLAG Guide to Being a Trans Ally
GLSEN Gender Terminology Discussion Guide
American Library Association:
● Libraries Respond: Drag Queen Story
Hour
Teaching Tolerance
2015 U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS)
by the National Center for Transgender Equality:
Call Your Girlfriend (podcast):
● June 27: Pronoun Power
Codeswitch (podcast):
● June 25: Some Of the People Knew Magic
Museopunks (podcast):
● Episode 36: Queering Your Museum

21. Mac Buff
Tacoma Art Museum
Associate Director of Education for
Student and Teacher Programs
MBuff@TacomaArtMuseum.org
they/them/theirs
Aarin Wilde
Foss Waterway Seaport Museum
Education Coordinator
aarin.wilde@fosswaterwayseaport.org
they/them or he/him
Maria Ruiz
Museum Consultant
maria.ruiz.arte@gmail.com
she/her/hers
Holly M. Crawford
ESMoA
Director of Education
hcrawford@artlab21.org
they/them/theirs