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How B Corps Can Navigate a Conversation About Trans Rights (w/ Benn Marine)

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Many purpose-driven businesses say they value inclusion—but when it comes to trans issues, most don’t know where to begin. In this candid conversation, trans organizer Benn Marine joins Ryan Honeyman and Emmy Allison to explore how B Corps can move beyond fear, “wokeness,” and silence toward genuine compassion, learning, and action.

Benn, Director of Social and Environmental Impact at Campfire Consulting and co-chair of B Lab’s B-Proud network, shares what he’s learned from years of organizing for marriage equality and advocating for LGBTQ+ inclusion in business. Together, they discuss how the B Corp community can hold space for discomfort, meet people where they are, and turn values of equity and belonging into everyday practice.

From pronouns and policy to deep canvassing and bridging differences, this episode offers a grounded look at what it really takes to navigate the trans conversation with courage, care, and integrity.

Please note: between [00:35:12 – 00:37:12], mental health and violence-related issues are discussed. Please listen with care.

 

Key Points From This Episode:

  • Benn’s path from marriage-equality organizing to B Corp impact at Campfire.
  • Discover his reasons for starting the Responsibly Different™ Podcast and how it has evolved.
  • What it means to a trans man, ‘passing privilege,’ and how his family supported him.
  • Benn shares how his identity has shaped his experience in the B Corp community.
  • How B Corp spaces can feel safer and why the intersection of experiences is important. 
  • Unpack meaningful change versus performative change in the B Corp movement. 
  • Explore the importance of pronouns and how to create room for mistakes and learning.
  • His criticism of ‘cancel culture’ and how to navigate comprehension and compassion.
  • The dangers and risks the trans community faces, and valuable resources for those in need.
  • Hear Benn’s takeaways from past episodes and what is driving the ‘anti-woke’ rhetoric.
  • Lessons from his marriage-equality work and the power of deep canvassing communities.
  • His hopes for the B Corp space and how listeners can support the LGBTQ+ community. 

Quotations:

“I have had mostly a very positive experience [in the B Corp community].” — Benn Marine [0:16:03]

“I think we are a complex people that can hold a lot of complex things.” — Benn Marine [0:18:14]

“I think by offering our pronouns we’re acknowledging that we don’t all hold the gender identity that would be assumed of us.” — Benn Marine [0:19:45]

“[The trans community] needs people to care because we have been erased and because we do face exponentially higher rates of violence, and because we are being scapegoated politically right now.” — Benn Marine [0:38:24]

“I think ‘wokeness’ has been used as a distraction by the current administration.” — Benn Marine [0:48:18]


Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:


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