Medic Logan Grimes, who works at Cook County Jail in Chicago, claims his boss outed him as a transgender man.

Grimes began working for Cook County six years ago and made the decision to not disclose his transgender identity.

The Outing

The outing allegedly took place in a private meeting with three colleagues back in September 2018. Now, Grimes is afraid to go back to work. Grimes sees this incident as promoting a homophobic and transphobic work environment. This fear is especially exacerbated by the fact part of Grimes’ job is to administer medication to inmates across Cook County Jail.

‘With a job like that,’ Grimes tells Windy City Times, ‘you expect to take a certain amount of risk just by the environment that you work in. What you don’t expect is that risk to be increased by someone disclosing your status.’

Grimes first learned about the outing on 1 October. He called out of work the next day and has not returned since. Windy City Times mentions that Grimes felt something was wrong when he was referred to by one colleague as a ‘girl’ and had another tell him that people get hurt when others ‘lie about who they really are.’

As of right now, the names of the boss and the three colleagues present aren’t known publicly. According to Windy City Times, Grimes’ boss is still employed, as charges have yet to be filed.

Letters to the EEOD

In letters submitted to the Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) Equal Employment Opportunity Division (EEOD), the three employees admitted their boss outed Grimes.

The reason for the meeting, the letters claim, was to discuss the hiring of a new employee, who may have been gay. That’s when their boss said, ‘kind of like Logan,’ one of the employees claims.

Each letter describes the brief conversation that followed. According to one employee, their boss said, ‘Well, you all know about Logan.’ At this point, one of the employees said, ‘They don’t know. Leave it alone.’

But the boss didn’t leave it alone. He allegedly then said, ‘’Logan is transgender.’

The EEOD conducted an investigation. On 18 November, they ruled that Grimes wasn’t discriminated against ‘based on his gender-related identity.’ They did, however, find that ‘there was a violation of the CCHHS personnel rules.’ The ruling did not provide any additional information.

In a statement emailed to Windy City Times, a CCHHS spokesperson said, ‘If any employee presents a credible threat to their safety, CCH takes every possible precaution to provide a safe work environment. Like other employers, it is our practice not to discuss the specifics of any case, including discipline.’

‘It just shocks me that outing someone does not constitute harassment at all,’ Grimes’ lawyer, Daniel Hernandez, said. ‘The harassment policy points out that harassing someone based on sexual orientation or gender identity is prohibited. It just shocks me that a regulatory body couldn’t come to a conclusion that some kind of violation had happened.’

Illinois Department of Human Rights

Grimes filed a new complaint with Illinois Department of Human Rights, where he was interviewed on 16 January.

Grimes fears violence should he return to work.

‘The transgender population has always been the brunt of jokes,’ he said. ‘As far as the medical staff goes there, they tend to dismiss [the transgender inmates’] needs or even take them seriously. So I know the environment in which I work.’

‘It’s really unsafe for me to return there because of the culture in the jail and the phobia of the jail,’ he continued. ‘That’s coming not just from the inmates—it’s coming from the staff. I don’t know how many people know, and I can’t trust that.’

See Also:

Protect trans prisoners, activists in India urge

Trans woman jailed for transmitting HIV has her sentenced reduced

Idaho must provide gender surgery for trans inmate, federal judge rules