I don't know if MO is the right place to ask such a question, but anyway it's my only hope to get an answer, and it's very important for me (not to say 'vital'); so let's try.
I'm at this time a Ph.D. student, and I plan to defend in the spring of 2018. I'm currently looking for a postdoc position for next year. I am, at this time, known as a man in the mathematical community, but I'm actually a trans woman, beginning my gender transition. I have two problems. Firstly, I will have to come out as transgender, in at most a few years, in the mathematical community, and I'm quite fearful about the consequences (for example, for my career). Secondly, I have to ensure before applying for a postdoc that in the country where I apply, I will be able to pursue my transition, I will be accepted as I am at the university, and that there won't be any major threat to my security (because of the policy of the country regarding trans people, for instance). For this reason, having contacts in these countries who are reaserchers in maths and are familiar with transidentity questions would be very helpful for me, as I have no other means to get the info I need.
So my first question is: are there, here, trans mathematicians who would be willing to talk with me, in private, about how they came out (if they had to) in the mathematical community, how it was accepted, what has been the consequences for their career, and more generally what was their experience as trans mathematicians? (I also have other specific questions like, for instance, how to deal with a change of your first name when you already have published under your former name?) Even if you're not trans, if you have information about all of this (if you know a trans mathematician for example), I would be interested.
My second question is: in the countries where I am interested in applying for a postdoc, that is Spain, the Czech Republic, Canada, the US, and Brazil, do you have any contacts, in the academic world, who are familiar with LGBT questions, and who could give me an idea about the situation of trans people in their country, and especially at the university? (In order for me to know if it's safe to apply there or not?)
If some of you are yourselves why I don't ask these questions directly to researchers of the universities where I want to apply: that's simply because it's not safe. Trans people have to face a lot of discrimination and you never know if speaking about your transidentity with someone you don't know is safe or not – that's the reason why I choosed to ask it anonymously here, first.
(You can contact me in private at rdm.v[at]yahoo[dot]com.)
Best Answer
Spectra is an organization for LGBT mathematicians. I hope that you can find people to safely discuss your questions with there.