It was late March, and Mario Smith was staring at an uncertain future. Mx. Smith, a 20-year-old immigrant from Jamaica who identifies as transgender and nonbinary, was nearing the end of an internship and preparing to plunge into a job market that, even before the pandemic, offered limited opportunities for people like them.
Even in New York City, where young people like Mx. Smith have flocked for decades in search of the freedom to live openly, long-established prejudices about gender identity and sexuality can still be a barrier to professional success.
Finding an inclusive workplace would be important in ways that were both obvious and intimate. Would employers recognize and respect Mx.