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Diana Lombardi has a boundless spirit in life. A devoted Boy Scout in Berlin, CT in her youth... a passionate photographer, a graduate from Rochester Institute of Technology... a determined Engineer and Electronics specialist working with companies like Westinghouse and Toshiba. Now, she's enjoying a second act of her life story; after an early retirement, Diana is back school to become a social worker and is an energetic advocate for the Transgender Community. Then there are big changes she's made in her own life...
CABO is important to you...
I am a firm believer that change is brought about through education and I believe that CABO is leading that change by educating people and companies that diversity is good for business. I believe that one of the things that makes America great is its diversity. Not just diversity of race, nationality and religion, but also diversity with LGBT individuals. We bring a unique perspective to the job.
Many Non-profits find support through CABO. You are involved with the Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition...
I am on the Board of Directors of CTAC and we have been incorporated for a little over a year, so we are just building our board. Our roles are undefined, technically I am the Secretary of the Board, but we all chip in and do what needs to be done. We are just finishing our planning for our conference on April 30, the Transgender Lives: The Intersection of Health and Law Conference; this will be our fifth conference and hopefully our best yet. We are also one of the lead organizations with ctEqaulity that is working to pass the gender inclusive anti-discrimination legislation. CTAC has had a big impact on me both personally and professionally, personally I feel that in some small way I am making a difference for the better in other people lives. Professionally, CTAC is the reason why I went back to school to get my MSW, so that I can have the tools to bring about change to the trans-community.
Workforce rights is a big part of your mission. How is the transgender community discriminated against?
Wow! You name it and we have been discriminated against. I have a friend who has her masters in Computer Science and worked for a company for over twenty years. She was their lead trainer for Microsoft network certificate courses and she was laid off the day after she told them that she was transsexual. Another friend was one of the companies top salesperson and the fired her when she transitioned. They said that the customers would never accept a trans-person and they refused to change her name on their employment records. So every time a potential employer called for a reference, they gave out her male name. However, it doesn't have to be that way, a friend is a project engineer at a large multinational corporation and she had no trouble transitioning on the job. A trans-man who works at a small company in the New Haven area as a supervisor had no problems transitioning; they recognized the value in a skilled worker.
At what point did you begin considering your were Transgender?
Oh! Where to begin... some of my earliest memories are of crying myself to sleep wishing that I would wake up as a girl in the morning. I began crossdressing in the seventh grade and I dressed in secret until I came out in 1999. I always thought that I was the only person in the world that crossdressed and it wasn’t one summer day when I heard on the radio, “Girls will be boys, and boys will be girls. It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world,” when I knew that there must be others who felt the same way that I did. Back then there were no words to describe transgender persons and all the newspapers and TV portrayed transsexuals negatively.
It took a long time for you to go out in public...
Throughout most of my life I crossdressed in secret and when I was dressed, I never when out in public. I was deeply closeted and it wasn't until 2000 that I went out in public as Diana. It was then I went to a support group, the Connecticut Outreach Society, when I walked into the meeting room and saw that there were other people who were like me, it was as if a great weight was lifted off my shoulders. As I went out in public with COS, I began to realize that it was more than clothes; it went to my soul. In 2004, I went to the Gender Identity Clinic of New England and they told me what I always knew that, but was afraid to admit it to myself, that I was transsexual. In October of that year, I began taking hormones. Then in 2007 when they shut down the factory where I worked, I transitioned.
How can the gay community help?
Be an ally! Speak up! Get involved!
What are the biggest misconceptions about those who are Transgender?
That we really are just gay men who can't admit it. It is about identity, not sexual orientation. There are just as many trans-women who love women, as there are trans-women who love men. The same is true for trans-men.
What have been some of your proudest moments in life?
One of my other hats is that of a Stonewall Speaker. One night I was waiting for our reservation at City Steam in Hartford and a woman was coming out of the restaurant, she stopped and said to me, “You probably don’t remember me, but you spoke in our class. Because of want you said that day, I now understand what a client who is transgender is going through.” My next proudest moment will be when I walk across the stage in Storrs this May to receive my diploma.
What are things that people might be surprised to know about you?
That I write poetry. When the stresses of transitioning built up, I relived them by writing my emotions in poems
Anything else you'd like to say?
In the struggle to pass a gender inclusive anti-discrimination legislation, both here in Connecticut and nationally, I would like to point out that the bill will cover everyone, not just trans-people. Nowhere in the bills do they say anything about transgender, the bills only say gender identity and expression. It protects the gay man who happens to act feminine. It protects the lesbian women who might look masculine. The bill also protects the straight man that happens to wear his hair long or the woman that does not wear make-up. The bill protects anyone that crosses the gender norm.
You can contact Diana at:
(860) 983-8139 or diana@ transadvocacy.com
www.transadvocacy.com
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