Article content continued

Another crucial step was to see to it Maguire’s colleagues — and everyone else working within the courts — were aware, and Maguire took a couple weeks holidays to allow her employer time to inform everyone and to let the news sink in.

“The message was, ‘We may not understand what she is going through, nor should we pretend to, but we have to respect her decision to do that. And it’s respect in the workplace. That’s what we’ll get. We want that, we’re going to get it,’ ” Prystay says. “The surprising part was there was no pushback from the staff.”

Maguire’s anxiety was eased when she heard from Prystay her colleagues were accepting of the situation. And she was further relieved when she started receiving direct messages from them.

“I had the most amazing support on Facebook,” she says. “Everyone was sending messages and nothing but positive. And when I got back, it was amazing. I had quite a few hugs and it was really good …

“Before the announcement, they’d let the female deputies know that I wasn’t planning on forcing my way into the women’s locker room or washrooms. (The female deputies) invited me in and cleared out a locker for me. So it feels really good to be part of something bigger.”

Maguire knows her situation, sadly, is not representative of the norm, many transgender people facing an entirely different situation at work.

“Unfortunately, there are several people that came out in their workplace and unfortunately have had the other end of the spectrum where they’ve received death threats, they received harassment from other co-workers, and one has quit her job because of that,” she says. “Here, I’m fully accepted and it’s amazing.”