other? OTHER????

I really don't like problems in communication. I know most of the fault is mine - I jump around in a conversation quite a bit. I just don't make myself clear. I understand that.

Case in point. During my 'year of activism' I am doing things with the Pride Council for my employer. We are dealing with issues that can have a nationwide impact.

They look at me (when I go into my political tangents) like I am wearing a tinfoil hat.

One of my issues at the moment has to do with the gender marker on records. Believe it or not, at my company, gender matters on the official record (trust me, it does - totally legit).

We are developing a new system and currently there are FOUR genders listed (Male, Female, Unknown, and Other). Male/Female is pretty self-explanatory. Unknown is the default if you don't enter anything and Other is your exception code (intersex for instance). I am not a big fan of Other as a classification but I see that they want to cover eventualities.

Now they want to add a handful of new ones (MTF, FTM, etc).

My concern is that this is being used as IDENTIFICATION. They say this is voluntary at the moment, people can determine which category they fit in. From what I have seen, that which is voluntary one day becomes mandatory the next.

(Insert weird, out of the way story here)

Imagine your job is to sit at a console and hit one of four buttons.

(This is a fictitious job, I hope I am not describing your employment situation)

If a green light shows on your console, hit button #1 and you will hear the sound of a bell.

If a red light shows on your console, hit button #2 and you will hear a trumpet.

If a blue light shows on your console, hit button #3 and you will hear a cow.

If a purple light shows on your console, hit button #3 but you have the option of hitting #4 instead. You have no idea what happens when you hit button #4.

Day after day, you get red, green, and blue lights.

The purple light stays stubbornly unlit.

Weeks go by, even months. Still no purple light and button #4 stays untouched, pristine.

Finally, one day, right before lunch, the purple light glows brilliantly and at the same time, the phone rings.

You answer the phone, your finger poised over button #4.

"Hey, this is Cecelia from accounting. That purple light? It's for me. I know I can't stop you or anything but can you please not hit button #4, it will really mess me up. Can you hit button #3 instead?"

Now, you have a real problem with accountants. Cecelia's voice grated on you with that darn accountant accent.

Why should you do her a favor? It is your JOB to hit button #4. Still, it is going to mess with Cecelia.

You, the Button Master - Bane of Accountancy. What button do you think you will push?

(end weird, out of the way story here)

At the meeting, I expressed concern with the added gender options and THEY COULDN'T SEE THE POINT. "They are accurate, aren't they? What's the problem?" They didn't seem to see the issue that private information was being given to anyone at the most cursory glance.

I got them to agree to protest it, I am still not sure they understand.