Actually, yesterday, I found out that the company is looking for a new assistant for me (well, whoever is operating the machine that I run). I figured I should probably see if my supervisor could get as much of a read as he could on getting someone that would be friendly to the LGTBQ community and explained why it was probably a good idea. He said he would see what he could do and let me know that his 21 year old son (biological male) is going through a similar situation. I'm glad I took the chance, but I know it could have been a disaster.
Still hanging in there,
Tilly