Civil Service Live
Profile: Dee Evans
Head of Gender Identity Policy for a:gender
Former rock guitarist and eternal Alice Cooper obsessive - spent many years in the Immigration Service. Determined to bring about better understanding of workplace issues affecting transsexual staff, she forsook the privacy that most 'trans' people crave and worked within the Home Office on all things 'gender identity'.
In December 2003, she co-founded and chaired a:gender, the Civil Service support network for transsexual, transgender and intersex staff, which rapidly became a respected HR and customer policy advisory unit, always willing to share its work and expertise across a broad arena. Recognition of this came when a:gender won the 'Inspiration (Breaking through Barriers and Changing Perceptions)' Award at the first ever Civil Service Diversity and Equality Awards in 2006.
Referring to the isolation that can result from prejudice against transsexual people, Dee wrote of Alice, "I knew he would never desert me, even if the rest of the world did." Today, a:gender has many supportive 'Friends', but the battle is not yet won.