Workplace Resources Guide

This Workplace Resources Guide compiles tools from the journalism industry, LGBTQ+ organizations, legal experts, and security advisors. The guide addresses both newsroom leaders who may be seeking to support trans employees or contractors, as well as workers who may need resources to present to their manager. It also contains numerous “do-it-yourself” toolkits for journalists.

Although this tool is gathered with trans journalists in mind, much of this guide will be useful for any journalist — especially when it comes to assessing risk and improving digital hygiene. As with many elements of diversity, equity, and inclusion, creating a safer and more thoughtful environment for trans journalists will help journalists of all identities thrive.

This guide contains the following sections:

  • Holistic Safety Guide: Links to recorded trainings and duty of care recommendations, as well as resources for supporting individual psychological, digital, and physical safety.
  • Trans-Inclusive Workplace Policies: Details written policy best practices, recommendations about pronoun disclosure, and workplace transition plans.
  • Additional Resources: Links from diversity, equity, and inclusion-focused journalism organizations and LGBTQ+ legal resources.

If you run into a workplace issue that isn’t addressed in this guide — or you’re just trying to figure out how to interpret and apply our guidance — please reach out to our general contact at contact@transjournalists.org.

The inclusion of any individual resource within this document is not an endorsement of the organization offering the resource, nor is it a statement that the resource is complete, accessible, or equitable. Users of this resource are asked to assess each item on an individual basis and use your best judgement to evaluate its usefulness to you. If you find a particular resource to be especially concerning or inaccessible, please inform the TJA.

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Holistic Safety Guide

This guide is compiled by TJA members and partners sharing our best practices for keeping ourselves and our data safe online and while reporting in person. Additional resources and support were provided by Aegis Safety Alliance (Jen Byers + Tara Pixley) funded through the 2024 Knight Election Hub Urgent Care project.

Trainings and Services

Receiving a full, in-person safety training best-prepares reporters to understand digital and physical safety. These resources can supplement more robust trainings, or provide an alternative for those unable to access in-person trainings.

Past TJA trainings

Please note that these trainings are only viewable if you are logged in on the members site.

Free safety services for journalists

Duty of Care and Newsroom Culture

Freelancers, assigning editors, and newsrooms should have conversations about the newsroom’s duty of care and contractual obligations early in the assignment planning process.

Newsrooms should clearly articulate what freelancers can expect in terms of legal support, travel, and/or health insurance (including post-assignment psychological support), as needed. Freelancers can request a collective overview of the risk assessment for an assignment to open conversation on the newsroom’s duty of care.

Resources for newsroom leaders

Risk assessment

  • Risk Assessment Assignment Checklist | ACOS + Aegis: Use this quick checklist for every assignment. Sit down with your editor or reporting team to review these questions. They can help clarify expectations, assignment safety needs, and preparation for potential risk.
  • Risk Assessment Training for Journalists in the Field | CPJ + PEN + IWMF + Aegis: A one-hour training video on how to complete a risk assessment.
  • Trans Risk Assessment Map | Erin Reed: Documents local laws and policies pertaining to trans people in the U.S. specifically. However, avoid over-relying on statewide maps for risk assessment. Individual situations and locations all require separate evaluation, and the political climate of a broad region may not necessarily reflect the risks present at a given event.

Psychological Safety

Taking care of your mental health is as important as your physical safety. These resources support journalists in preparing for difficult assignments, recognizing the signs of trauma and managing the mental health impacts of the journalism profession.

Mental health resources

General support

Therapy and guides

Safety with sources

  • Having clear boundaries with sources is key.
  • Never over-promise to a source. Be transparent about the editorial process.
  • Do not get personally or romantically involved with a source.
  • Keep your journalistic role and independence clear. This is an aspect of safety.
    • Unfortunately, some of the worst harassment campaigns can come from former sources. Help avoid this by setting clear boundaries at all points in your professional interactions.
  • Consider source reticence and work to build trust.
  • Making relationships with sources before difficult events or conflict makes them more likely to talk during conflict and builds trust generally. Often, folks are closed-off and protective on the day of a protest, so it may be difficult to make connections.

Information Security Checklist

Past bylines are sometimes used as vectors for harassment. If you’re changing your byline, or have previously changed your byline but want to locate additional information associated with your past name, here are some resource checklists and places to look.

Locating and removing pre-transition information

  • Look yourself up online and remove data
    • Delete or make private all images of a pre-transition self, if necessary
    • Untag yourself from photos or images posted pre-transition, if necessary
    • Remove content from sites that you own
    • Request for search engines to remove other information
    • Request for the Wayback Machine to remove content
    • Request for Google or Apple Maps to blur out your address, if applicable
  • Set up 2FA for services using Google Authenticator, Authy, 1Password, or another service, and secure your accounts with them
  • Use a password manager to store and create your passwords

Developing a byline change plan

  • Decide on a day when you would like to socially transition at your workplace
  • Inform your HR and supervisor of your intent to transition
  • Make a list of services (like CMSes, newswire access, professional communication platforms) that will have to be updated if you change your name and its associated email handle
  • Write a coming out note and coordinate with your supervisor on announcements
    • You may also choose to write a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section in your note to answer any questions people may have

How to change your byline

  • Change your username and name on social media services: Facebook, Instagram/Threads, Twitter/X, LinkedIn display name, LinkedIn public profile URL among others
  • Update services that you use for work, if you have changed your name and associated email handle
  • Claim your profile with Muck Rack (if you have yet to do so) and change your name there
  • Make a public announcement, if you wish
  • Make a list of places where your former byline would appear, and look up their contacts
  • Request for a change in byline in places you no longer work at

After you change your byline

  • Create a separate email to create new social media accounts that will be used to park your old social media handles/usernames
  • Park your old social media handles with a new account
    • Immediately (for Twitter/X, Bluesky or Mastodon)
    • After two weeks (for Instagram/Threads)
    • After 4 months (Facebook)
  • Secure these accounts with 2FA
  • Maintain these old accounts once every 6 months to a year

Digital Security

Assess your digital safety pre-assignment by “doxxing yourself” i.e. seeing what info is available online, who might be able to access it, and how. Lock down your data, profile, and other sensitive info using the tools below.

Communications

  • Use encrypted communication (e.g. Signal) as much as possible when talking with sources or other reporters
  • Use a VPN when researching
  • Consider secure or encrypted data storage
  • Include communications plans and digital threats in your risk assessment planning (and see our risk assessment resources)

Digital safety resources

Do-it-yourself information management

Data broker tools

There are a number of services that will remove your information from data brokers on your behalf — for a fee. Below we offer some discounts for paid services where available.

Recommended paid tools

For more information on these tools, review the Consumer Reports evaluation of costs, efficiency, and efficacy of data broker opt-out programs.

Remember: As you’re opting out, include any / all names you have. Most sites allow inputs for multiple names, as well as family members’.

Discounts available

  • TJA has a 20% membership discount code for DeleteMe’s one-year or two-year plans, which take down information from data brokers. The code works with both family and individual accounts. You can request that through a form. There are a lot of limitations for this service (ie, it’s apparently better for US than UK users), but it can still save many people hours of work.
  • IWMF also offers discounts and/or free DeleteMe subscriptions
  • Visa offers free Norton Lifelock to most Visa card holders

Password managers

Password managers store your passwords, which allow them to be more secure. We recommend that all journalists use a personal password manager that is separate from any employer-offered tool. 1Password has particularly good mutli-account support; Bitwarden has a very reliable free, open source plan.

Protecting personal data/ protecting against online abuse

Physical Safety in Protest Coverage

Digital surveillance

It’s common knowledge that surveillance is used by law enforcement to target dissidents, but these techniques can also be used against journalists — both by the state and by civilian bad actors.

  • Study the digital surveillance tactics used against activists and January 6th rioters to understand ways you might be targeted.
  • Anything you post can and will be used against you. Be careful about sharing personal data, especially location photos, details, or live updates.
  • Consider using a VPN on your phone while reporting on protests.
  • Use encrypted communications, like Signal.

Situational awareness

The best way to avoid danger is to stay aware of your surroundings. Being aware is a process, and you want to continuously survey, collect information, assess, and reassess.

Resources for covering protests

Tips for covering protests

  • Research police tactics used in your area.
    • Things to prepare for: kettling, teargas, pepper spray, “MOVE BACK” line pushes, rubber bullets, bean bag projectiles
    • Police violence typically escalates at night and when very few members of the press are around. Police are most likely to target the press when there are few other witnesses.
  • If in a protest, stay moving. Move in a flower pattern, going into the crowd and out of it, so you can see the entire situation and how it’s developing.
  • Look at a satellite view of the protest location beforehand. Identify choke points and exit routes.
  • If possible, find high ground to assess the scene. This will help you identify shifts in the crowd, including helping you predict kettles.
  • Stay at least 10 feet away from the police at all times. Make sure they can’t grab you or lunge and grab you.
  • Survey area for things you can take cover or hide behind if someone starts shooting. If hiding behind a car, hide behind the engine block.
  • Prepare yourself with local legal resources. Who can you call if you get arrested? Consider writing their number on your arm in Sharpie because you might not have access to written notes.
  • Carry cash and any necessary medications, should you get arrested.
  • Back up photos and data as much as possible, in case of arrest or device seizure.

Questions to ask during research

  • What is the political climate of the area I’m going into?
  • Are the civilians hostile or welcoming to trans people and/or the press? Are the police? The protest/activist groups?
  • Have there been any recent or historical attacks on the press or LGBTQ+ people?
  • Are the local police/sheriffs/etc. known to use certain tactics or use certain munitions?

Profile-building

Your profile is a combination of your dress, gear, and how you carry yourself. Sometimes you want to stand out and other times you want to blend in. Sometimes you want to look “fancy,” other times plain, other times punk. Deciding how you want to build your profile is up to you, but part of safety planning is to think through how you can best prepare yourself to work effectively and safely, while also recognizing what your attire will say about you to others.

Questions to ask yourself

  • Do I want to be very visibly a reporter (e.g. neutral clothing, press pass out, gear visible)?
  • Do I want to blend in to appear that you are not attending in a professional capacity (e.g. use a smartphone to report and photograph)?
  • What gear do I need to do my job?
    • Will having too much (or too little) impede me from moving?
    • Will having too much (or too little) gear make me a target for anti-press violence?
    • Is my gear a snag hazard?
  • What is the dress code of the event?
    • Will people be dressed more business professional or casual?
  • What physical liability does my clothing expose me to?
    • How much skin am I exposing?
    • Do I need skin protection, abrasion resistance?
    • Should my clothing be flame resistant? (E.g. natural materials, not plastic).
  • How likely is it that I’ll need to run?
  • Are there any signifiers relevant to the area that could mark me as a member of a group or ideology? Do I want to lean into that or avoid that? (E.g. wearing all black, black/yellow, a red hat, an American flag).
  • If I have multiple gender presentations, which will make me feel the most comfortable, safe, and able to do my job?

Civil unrest gear and personal protective equipment

Much of the available safety gear for protest and other hazardous reporting environments are made with a cis-male body in mind and are inherently militaristic. We recommend keeping a lower profile for civil unrest environments i.e. eye protection and mask to filter chemical attacks. Keep these handy to don when needed but not in plain sight, if possible.

Equipment to consider carrying

  • Active ear protection and ear plugs
  • Eye goggles or gas mask, in case of tear gas or pepper spray
  • Self-defense equipment

About self-defense equipment Experts recommend having access to small tools you can quickly and effectively use in the event of physical aggression toward you. Only carry self-defense tools that you have trained to use. Research and understand the legality of any tool that you carry, as well as applicable self-defense and assault laws. Always aim for de-escalation and/or escape.

  • If pepper spray is legal in your area, self-defense experts recommend carrying it because it maintains distance, which improves your ability to remain safe and escape. It also carries lower legal liability than other commonly recommended tools.
  • Some recommend tactical pens and tasers. However, these items often have regulatory and legal restrictions that change from city-to-city and are difficult to research, especially when purchased online. They must also be used at a close distance, which may hinder escape. Safety experts recommend a tool that allows users to create and maintain physical distance, like pepper spray, over tactical pens.

Resources

General Physical Safety

First aid

It is generally best-practice to carry gloves, gauze, and tourniquettes in high-risk situations.

Additional first aid resources

How to find applicable self-defense courses

Some communities have been organizing LGBTQ+-focused self-defense classes. It may be worthwhile to look for a class or group in your area, to build confidence and ensure you are able to get out of dangerous situations safely.

Look for gyms with classes focused on practical self-defense skills — e.g. tactics like “disable and escape.” Some martial arts forms, such as krav maga and others commonly used by military or police, assume that their practitioners have qualified immunity. These martial arts forms may teach tactics that escalate, rather than diffuse, unsafe situations, or that may increase your legal liability as a civilian. If looking to seriously learn self-defense, it is best to practice both a grappling art and a striking art. Classes on de-escalation and first aid are also recommended.

You can assess whether the gym and trainers are trans-inclusive by calling ahead, reading reviews, or browsing their website. If you have local community who wants to study together, many gyms will allow for smaller, private lessons focused on the group’s needs and skill set.

Evaluating bathroom access on assignment

Resources

Tips

  • Research ahead if reporting at a new location. (E.g. call ahead; ask sources for recommendations; look up laws, political temperature, or a building map.)
  • If a location is known to be notably hostile, find out: Are there gender-neutral or single-stall restrooms? Is there an LGBTQ+-friendly local business nearby?
  • Consider the buddy system. Backwatchers are good in most scenarios.
  • Know and believe that you are supposed to be there, so your mannerisms convey that to others.

Trans-inclusive Workplace Policies

Written Policy Best Practices

General policy

  • Have a workplace write anti-discrimination and anti-harassment policy that explicitly include sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression as protected categories.
  • Have clear policies that outline expected behavior and protocol concerning the categories below.
  • Keep a Workplace Transition Plan that follows best practices.
  • Maintain a list of contacts who can answer questions related to the Workplace Transition Plan, records, and internal policies.
  • Introduce all workplace policies to every employee as part of onboarding.

Workplace education

  • Employers should provide and encourage consistent workplace education on transgender issues, regardless of whether a workplace contains any openly transgender employees. This will improve coverage of transgender communities as well as foster a safer workplace environment for all employees.
  • Whenever possible, this education should come from professional organizations that provide in-person, full-workplace training. Mandatory online programs are also acceptable if bringing in trained professionals is not feasible.
  • If necessary, additional education should be provided when transgender employees enter the workplace. However, general education already provided to employees should cover any topics that would become relevant upon an out transgender employee entering the workplace.
  • LGBTQ and other underrepresented employees should not be asked to provide workplace education to their coworkers.

LGBTQ issues coverage

  • LGBTQ and other under-represented employees should not be expected to provide editorial guidance or sensitivity reads outside of the scope of their typical work.
  • LGBTQ employees should not be taken off any story because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.
  • LGBTQ employees should not be automatically assigned stories on LGBTQ issues solely because of their gender identity or sexual orientation.

Privacy

  • Employees have a right to decide whether and when to disclose and discuss their gender and identity.
  • Management, human resources, and other colleagues should not disclose or discuss an employee’s transgender status without obtaining prior consent.
  • Disclosing an employee’s transgender status can constitute a violation of medical privacy laws, such as HIPAA.

Names and pronouns

  • All records should reflect an employee’s chosen name, rather than legal name, even if they have not changed their legal name — unless required by outside institutions (such as by payroll and bank records).
  • As best practice, newsrooms should update past and future bylines for transgender employees without requiring documentation. This is a matter of both accuracy and safety, as the easy availability of trans journalists’ past bylines facilitates harassment.
  • In newsrooms with technical systems that would re-publish past stories if bylines were updated (e.g. news wires), updating bylines may out employees or cause other issues. It's important to inform employees of how and where updated information could appear, and also to consider this while developing internal policies around byline changes.
  • In newsrooms that use CMS systems that share stories between multiple partner sites, old bylines and user profiles may appear on other sites for which the employer does not have edit access. Appoint a manager or human resources employee to contact other outlets to request byline and profile updates for transgender employees.
  • Do not require employees to disclose pronouns in places such as email signatures, business cards, or social accounts. Instead, provide all employees with a newsroom-wide, consistent format for voluntarily including pronouns in relevant venues. Encourage employees to participate regardless of their genders. For additional information, see Pronoun Disclosure on Professional Platforms.

Harassment policies

  • ​​Persistent, malicious refusal to use correct names and pronouns can legally constitute harassment. The relevant laws for your workplace should be noted in workplace anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies.
  • All newsrooms should have policies and procedures for dealing with harassment directed toward reporters by the public. These policies should cover in-person, in-the-field incidents of harassment as well as online harassment. Those policies should specifically include trans journalists.
  • For additional information on external safety and harassment policies,

Sex-segregated job assignments and workplace events

  • Employees should generally be classified according to their lived gender, not assigned sex at birth, at workplace events unless they choose otherwise.
  • While determining reporting assignments, do not make assumptions about whether a transgender employee would be comfortable or uncomfortable attending and reporting on an event or community that separates groups by gender. Consult the employee.

Restrooms and locker rooms

  • It is best practice to have single-use, gender-neutral restrooms available to all employees.
  • Transgender employees should not be denied access to common restrooms or restricted to a single-use restroom.
  • Transgender employees should be allowed to use any restrooms and locker rooms that best correspond to their gender.

Dress codes

  • It is best practice to have a dress code that does not restrict manner of dress based on gender and identity.
  • Transgender employees should be able to follow the dress code most appropriate to their gender or gender expression.

Health insurance

  • Employers should seek employee medical insurance plans that include and cover transgender health care.
  • Transition-related care should be eligible for any workplace medical leave plans, both individual and state-mandated.

Pronoun Disclosure on Professional Platforms

Pronouns are increasingly a standard part of many workplaces’ professional email signatures, along with titles, social media handles, and other boilerplate information.

This is generally a helpful and practical trend for a few reasons:

  • Many given names are neutral or may have different gender associations across cultures.
  • Making a person’s pronouns easier to find is a simple way of preventing potential miscommunications.
  • Offering nonbinary and other employees who use pronouns besides he/him and she/her a convenient way to note their pronouns can remind cisgender colleagues to use them correctly.
  • Cisgender people who are unlikely to be misgendered but still prominently display their pronouns may help make trans employees feel less conspicuous.
  • Including pronouns in written communication may also help normalize asking for and confirming another person’s pronouns during interviews, source diversity audits, and other professional interactions.

However, we do not recommend mandating pronoun disclosures of any kind in the workplace or in other professional contexts.

Managers should feel comfortable encouraging employees to disclose their pronouns publicly, for the reasons noted above — but any individual's decision not to disclose pronouns should not be interrogated. The same principles may apply to social media profiles, event name tags, email signatures, HR platforms, work bios, and in other online or offline interactions.

There are many reasons a person might prefer not to disclose their pronouns, either in particular situations or across all professional platforms:

  • Trans people who are not out publicly, change pronouns from day-to-day, or who use different identifiers in their public and private lives may not want a written, easily shareable record of what pronouns they use at work.
  • Sources or other outside contacts may criticize the very act of disclosing pronouns. This could become a potential safety or privacy issue for journalists of any identity, but for trans employees in particular.
  • And — simply but crucially — some trans people may prefer not to draw attention to their pronouns.

Many common workplace platforms provide the options for employees to include pronouns in an inconspicuous manner in user profiles next to other information, like name pronunciation, job title, and email address. For newsrooms that use Slack, there are a variety of workspace configuration settings that, when enabled by an administrator, allow employees to add pronouns to their profiles. Other common platforms, including Teams and Zoom, also have options to add pronoun fields.

However, many users are unaware that these options exist, or do not refer to other users' profiles before addressing them. As a result, many people prefer to include pronouns more conspicuously in their display name, where everyone will see them: e.g. Jax Doe (they/them).

If your newsroom is developing any policies related to pronoun usage on work platforms, it may be necessary to educate employees about the existence of the less-visible profile options.

Developing a Workplace Transition Plan

This guide walks through important questions and best practices for employers who wish to support employees who decide to transition and come out at work. Such a guide is recommended as a best practice by the Transgender Law Center as well as a number of human resources and diversity, equity, and inclusion organizations.

Guidelines for the employer

  • Emphasize support of employees and their transitions
  • Review relevant nondiscrimination policies
  • Advise coworkers about affirming employees and their transitions
  • Model correct use of transitioning employees’ name and pronouns in all communications
  • Develop processes with participation and consent of transitioning employees

Questions for the employer

  • Who is the transitioning employee’s point of contact? Someone in HR? Elsewhere?
  • Who will be involved in implementing an employee’s transition plan? This should include the employee, the employee’s direct supervisor, an HR representative, and anyone else who will be involved (per employee’s comfort and permission).
  • Who, if anyone, would have access to records or information containing former names and legal names? Employees should be made aware of this.
  • Does the newsroom owner have relevant policies and procedures that guide or constrain the newsroom’s policies? This may be relevant if the newsroom is owned by a university or larger media conglomerate.
  • How familiar are points of contact expected to be with newsroom policies around transgender issues? How will they be trained, and how will they stay informed after initial trainings?
  • How will employees know about newsroom policies related to transgender status?
  • This includes but is not limited to policies regarding bathroom use, employment rights, and how to report harassment or discrimination. It also includes transgender health care coverage in newsroom medical plans.
  • Who does the employee need to meet with? Most employees will likely need to consult their immediate supervisor after discussing social transition plans with HR or another primary point person. An employee may desire a larger meeting to inform others of their transition.
  • What records need to be updated for employees? How and when will those changes be made? Can they be made?
  • Consider headshots, newsroom email ID, online display names, press badges, name plates, HR logins, and bylines. If the newsroom is affiliated with a larger conglomerate, there may be systems that can’t be changed without a formal request to a technology department.
  • Employers should ensure all name changes, photographs, and other documents are updated in advance of any announcement, unless the employee prefers a different timeline.
  • What sort of social, medical, and disability leave are available to transitioning employees? Who will communicate with the employee about any relevant leave programs and how to qualify? These programs vary by state laws and by workplace.
  • Who will notify management of the employee’s transition so that newsroom leaders can model appropriate pronouns, names and behavior?
  • What training will be given to coworkers?
  • How will management respond to coworkers or colleagues disrespecting employees based on their transgender status? How will management respond to colleagues who refuse to use the appropriate names and pronouns for transitioning employees? How will employees be made aware of relevant anti-harassment and nondiscrimination laws?
  • How will management respond to harassment or discrimination against transgender employees originating from outside the newsroom? Do existing newsroom policies include transgender reporters when stipulating how to handle harassment at events, while reporting, or on social media?

Questions for the employee

  • When will the social transition in the office formally occur? This means the date that the employee will change their name and pronouns. They may also start using a different restroom/locker room, if they have not already been using the facilities most appropriate for their gender identity.
  • How and in what format should coworkers be made aware of someone’s new name and pronouns, if relevant?
  • Would they prefer to announce new names and pronouns to relevant coworkers or communicate the information one-on-one?
  • Would they prefer to announce new names and pronouns themselves or have a supervisor communicate relevant information in a meeting or via email?

Additional Resources

Workers’ rights toolkits

Employment resources

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