Bungie senior visual designer Signy Davis has called for industry-wide action “to secure equal treatment and health care access for transgender and gender-expansive people.”
Sharing a statement on Twitter, Davis called on Bungie and parent company Sony to re-evaluate their relationship with their health insurance company Premera. She went on to call Premera’s consistent denial of gender-affirming surgery “dehumanising”.
“I am tired of seeking care and receiving trauma instead,” Davis wrote. “Bungie and the industry need to act now, together, to secure equal treatment and health care access for transgender and gender-expansive people. This must be a priority. This is an opportunity for Bungie and the industry to demonstrate that their transgender and gender-expansive employees matter, to listen, and act to combat this blatant discrimination.”
She went on to say she’s “spent the last two years of my life fighting ‘cosmetic only’ denials for gender-affirming surgery, including a needed surgical revision denial as recent as June 2, because of Premera’s continued discriminatory practices and Bungie’s lack of priority and action.”
“I’m privileged to live in one of the best states in the country for trans health care, and yet myself and many others have to continually fight for fair and equal treatment.”
Eyes up, @Bungie @Sony @Polygon @IGN @premera #TransLivesMatter #TreatMeLikeAHuman #gamedev #1to1 #OnetoOne #EyesUp pic.twitter.com/CGnak4GfaC
— Signy (@Signyyyy) July 11, 2022
Davis continued: “I believe in Bungie’s commitment toward bettering our inclusion, diversity, and equity. This commitment is reflected in the kindness, professionalism, and friendship I’ve been shown since my first day on the job. I want to grow at Bungie and make career-defining work. But I can’t while I’m actively fighting for my life. I can’t be hopeful for my future while our health insurance continues to deny my humanity.”
The statement ends by saying that “this is an opportunity for Bungie and the industry to demonstrate that their transgender and gender-expansive employees matter, to listen, and act to combat this blatant discrimination. Lives are at stake.”
The people I work with at Bungie care about equal rights, so it’s disappointing to see our policies as a company fall short of our ideals as individuals. Bungie (and Sony) should do more to support their trans employees, but I do believe we have the heart to make that happen. https://t.co/2BuAYINHAo
— Sam “hannukah goblin” Shapiro (@fennecfoxguy) July 11, 2022
Responding, Bungie shared a statement with Kotaku that said: “We are grateful for Bungie employees speaking up on issues that impact them. We have had an employee reach out internally to share their lived experience and that it was important to them to also share publicly to help create awareness for this issue. We support them and appreciate their willingness to engage with us to address the issues that they and other trans/non-binary employees have faced when pursuing gender-affirming care.”
“We are committed to the long-term work needed to address the issues raised. We have been engaged in conversations with many of our employees who are a part of Trans@Bungie to centre their experiences to inform and shape that work.”
Last month, EA released a statement in support of the LGBTQ+ community following criticism from employees about the company’s silence on issues such as abortion rights and transgender rights.
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