Friday, October 7, 2016

Dear Colleagues & Friends

Before the summer I shared my news about being transgender, thank you to those who have shown support for me.

If you didn’t see those announcements or don’t recall them you can review them on this blog with these posts in this order:


Outside of work, I have been living full time as a woman for the past 4 months. My family and friends call me Cynthia, and I have had my name legally changed to Cynthia Alison Fortlage. My driver’s license & health card show me as female.

It is now time to be my authentic self at work.

Human Resources has been very supportive and have changed my name and gender on all company records. I plan to begin working as Cynthia on Nov 7th, 2016. I’m very pleased to be able to take this step toward personal wholeness while staying at a career I have found very rewarding.

My last day in the office working as Nigel will be Thursday, October 20th, 2016. After that day I will be travelling for 1 week as Nigel one last time and returning to be Cynthia full time after that trip.

This change will not affect my ability to do my job. In fact, I may be less distracted when I no longer have two personas to juggle. Also, as I enjoy being myself more, you may find me more enjoyable to be around.

Please continue to ask questions.  Knowledge is power and the key to understanding and compassion.  Ignorance and hiding yourself is the path to hate and mis-communication.  I am more open than normal to answering questions you may have in regards to the process, or whatever else you may be curious about.  I also want to be very clear, I am still the same person you have known up to this point, and will remain relatively unchanged, well, with a few distinct changes of course.

I expect the first day that I present as female will cause some disruption, this message is intended to give you sufficient warning so said disruption can be minimized.

Beginning on Nov 1st, 2016 , I ask that you call me by my new name (Cynthia) and use female pronouns (she, her, hers) when referring to me. I know this will take a little time to get used to, and I expect that you’ll make mistakes at first. All I ask is that you try to get it right.

Respectfully,

Cynthia Alison Fortlage
(formerly Nigel Maurice Fortlage)


Please update your address books to reflect my new name and email address: cynthiaf@ghy.com

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