The 
British economy will take years to recover, we are told. Here in Berkshire, along with everywhere else in the UK and the world, things are tough right now. For Berkshire builder, Rebekah Maidment-Cameron, these tough times are particularly difficult.
“Unfortunately, as far as work goes,” Rebekah told us here at Gay Berkshire: The LGBT Network, “very little seems to come my way, although I have been recommended many, many times.”
Rebekah began her career as a builder in London, before her gender reassignment surgery four years ago and moving to Berkshire. “I was shocked when the majority of my friends in London dropped me like a shot, soon as I declared my intentions to change gender. Funny really, because I was never some big butch builder. I lost the job I had with the building company I was working for in North London.”
Rebekah forged ahead, relocated and found other work, but after her surgery, she developed life-threatening complications that made it impossible for her to continue work for some time. So she lost her next job, since she was in no fit condition to return to work.
“So, I started working alongside my partner’s brother (which helped) and had a good run for a while, doing work for friends and they recommended us to others. Problem is, outside of the circle, work just went dead. I think that people who do not know me well, feel uncomfortable recommending me and/or contracting me in the first place. Whether that is because I'm a transsexual woman-? or a lady builder-? Maybe they cannot get their heads round what I am, or do not believe that I can do the job as well as a straight man? All of my neighbours know what I do for a living, but get other builders in to do the work for them. Strange but true!”
Not one to just sit back and let these economic times get the best of her, Rebekah is pressing on – creating a website and seeking new avenues to advertise, such as Pinke.biz, a search facility to help you find LGBT-friendly businesses in your area.
Times are tough for so many of us and Gay Berkshire is a county wide group which aims to give a stronger voice to the local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. Rebekah’s is just one voice in our LGBT community, but we are sure her frustrations echo those of many, so this is a voice that needed to be heard.
