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“I had never met so many people that truly wanted to learn more about me and accepted me for who I was.” “I truly believe that coming to Microsoft changed my life,” said Chen, who quickly encountered many other LGBTQ+ employees and allies at the company. For the first time, being lesbian wasn’t a liability or a worry Chen was able to embrace it as an integral part of her identity.
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“I felt so ashamed that someone else had to validate my gender,” said Chen, who also felt pressured to grow out her hair and dress more traditionally feminine, just to feel more inconspicuous using the restroom.īut it wasn’t until Chen came to work at Microsoft that she began to realize the full impact this experience of trying to hide in plain sight had on her life. Throughout middle and high school, Chen made accommodations to avoid awkward encounters, like the first day of gym in sixth grade when she begged the teacher to go into the locker room before her and tell everyone else that it was okay, she was a girl, she was in the right place. From then on, Chen ran home after school to use the restroom. Michelle Chen wore “boy’s” clothes and kept her hair buzzed until one day in third grade, while she was leaving the girls’ restroom, several teachers stood there, responding to a complaint of a boy in the girl’s restroom. “But it absolutely crushed me inside.”Īfter that, the young Chen avoided going to the bathroom at school, opting to wait until she could run home after school because her house was the only place she felt truly safe. “I had to laugh it off at the time,” Chen said. Several teachers stood outside the door, responding to someone’s complaint that there was a boy in the girls’ restroom. This wasn’t a problem until one day in third grade, while she was leaving the girls’ restroom at her elementary school in Ohio.
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From the time software engineer Michelle Chen was little, she loved wearing “boy’s” clothes and keeping her hair buzzed.