Employee Fired For Harassing Transgender Customer Accuses Macy’s Of Religious Discrimination

[rug]

By Margaret Hartmann
Dec 8, 2011 12:25 AM

A week ago, a Macy's employee spotted a transgender woman going into the women's dressing room, and decided to stop her and inform her that she wasn't really a woman. The company promptly fired her, but now the employee has enlisted the help of a hatemongering conservative organization and is claiming that Macy's discriminated against her religious beliefs by denying her the right to harass whichever customer she chooses.

On November 30, 27-year-old Natalie Johnson was working at a Macy's in San Antonio when she noticed a teenager shopping with a few friends. She tells KSAT, "I made sure to keep a close eye out on him because he was shopping for women's clothing." You see, despite the fact that the shopper was wearing women's clothing, shopping in the women's section, and wearing makeup, Johnson concluded she was a man. (KSAT is also good at determining what gender people are. While the customer fooled other news outlets into calling her a woman, the station consistently refers to the shopper as "he" in its report.) When Johnson saw the woman go into the women's dressing room, she told her she couldn't enter. "I had to just straight forward tell him, 'You're a man,' and of course that made him, that really got him steamed," said Johnson. The group the shopper was with said she was a woman, and pointed out that Macy's allows people to use the changing room of the gender they associate with.

Johnson says she told a manager, "I've made my choice the other day ... I refuse to comply with this policy." Since she was incapable of complying with company rules, Macy's fired her. Johnson went to the Liberty Counsel, a conservative organization that's called GLBT rights "a radical agenda," then filed a complaint with the federal employment commission. When asked for a response, Macy's said it doesn't "comment on personnel matters," adding, "At Macy's, we recognize and appreciate the diversity of our customers and associates."

Johnson says that by mandating that all employees appreciate the diversity of Macy's customers, the store is forcing her to violate her Christian beliefs. She says, "There are no transgenders in the world. A guy can dress up as a woman all he wants, that's still not going to make you a woman." You may not be familiar with the Biblical passage that says, "Thou shalt only admit women born with female genatalia into the women's fitting room." In Deuteronomy 22:5 it does say, "A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the Lord your God detests anyone who does this," but if you're going to strictly adhere to that passage you probably can't work at Macy's anyway. A few lines later it says, "Do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together," and "Make tassels on the four corners of the cloak you wear." The entire clothing department is in clear violation of these rules!

http://jezebel.com/5866187/employee-fired-for-harassing-transgender-customer-accuses-macys-of-religious-discrimination

[LiberalEsto]

1. Sounds like this nut wants genital inspections

before letting people into the dressing rooms.

How on earth is this Johnson's business? How did she determine that this shopper was male? Or transgender? Does she have X-ray vision? If so, maybe she should be working for Homeland Security.

If I were in a dressing room at a store, I'd be concerned only with whether the items fit and looked nice, and whether I could afford them. I would not care who was in the next dressing room.

[NMMNG]

22. I read a story about two years ago

A woman complained that a "man in woman's clothing" was in the women's room. She knew this because she'd seen the male genitalia as the individual using the toilet. There was a brouhaha and the transgender woman was thrown out by security. Apparently it was OK for the complaining woman to be peeking into toilet stalls, but not for a transgender woman to use the restroom that fit the gender she presented. :eyes:

[cleanhippie]

2. Seems to be the new trend among the RW xtians.

"Keeping me from bullying or harassing others because my religion says I can is infringing on my rights."


:banghead:



The only way this nonsense is going to stop is by our so-called liberal xtians to stand up to these assholes and take away their power and legitimacy. Its the ONLY way it's ever going to stop.

[baldguy]

3. Why do people think their religion gives them a pass for being a bigoted jack ass?

[MarkCharles]

5. Maybe someone could ask Rick Perry or Michele Bachmann They seem

to have been promoting it lately, particularly toward the LGBT community.

[NMMNG]

4. Pretty simple

She refused to follow company policy and to do her job so she got fired.


Johnson says that by mandating that all employees appreciate the diversity of Macy's customers, the store is forcing her to violate her Christian beliefs. "There are no transgenders in the world. A guy can dress up as a woman all he wants, that's still not going to make you a woman."

She can dress bigotry up in all the religious language she wants and it's still not going to hide the fact that she's a bigot.

[qb]

6. The former employee needs to be reminded that hatred & bigotry aren't religions.

A refresher on "Judge not..." wouldn't be out of line, either.

[Goblinmonger]

7. Well, where are all those people in this group

that don't think it is OK to criticize anyone's beliefs?

[trotsky]

9. I'm sure they'll be right along.

Any minute now.

[Goblinmonger]

10. I'm holding my breath in anticipation. n/t

[trotsky]

15. Yep, should be right along any second now.

I'm sure of it.

[okasha]

16. Her beliefs don't matter.

It's her actions for which she was most appropriately fired.

[trotsky]

17. She was merely acting on her beliefs.

Why are you supporting employment discrimination against Christians?

[okasha]

18. Which makes about as much sense as most of your posts.

Beliefs don't matter to the law or to Macy's rules. Actions do. The salesperson had a choice: act on her belifs or maintain company policy. She made the wrong choice.

[trotsky]

19. Why the personal slam?

Let's try to discuss the issue at hand, shall we? And not fling insults? Can you agree to this? I would like your agreement before proceeding. Please respond in the affirmative.

[Goblinmonger]

20. He actions are based on her beliefs.

How dare you attack those beliefs?

[skepticscott]

39. Well, if it weren't for her beliefs

those actions would never have happened, now would they? So why again are her beliefs, which were the direct motivation for her actions, of no importance here?

[starroute]

8. Hit them with a dose of Matthew 7

http://www.bartleby.com/108/40/7.html

1 Judge not, that ye be not judged.

2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

[Hestia]

11. Well then, Macy's firing of her was within acceptable reason. There is a reason why those

passages are in the bible. Way back when, a female god's attendants or priests were male, the male god attendants were female. This was to keep any one god or group having power over others. Cybele's priests neutered themselves, as with other goddesses priests. It seems IHVH didn't want the men doing that, because it emasculates them and they can't rule and "lord" (which means pretty much mister) it over the women. Notice how the women were kicked out of the temple for the male god there in Israel. The male priests wanted that power of the temple because it does seem that the females were very successful at promoting their god. Figures, eh?

[Iggo]

12. Gawd, these people!

They spend waaaaaay too much time worrying about wee-wees.

[MarkCharles]

13. Yes, well stated !! They seem obsessed with the

sexuality of other people, and, of course, they are NOT GAY!!!! (

[Deep13]

14. All together, class...

Everyone has a right to his or her religion, but no one has a right to impose it on others.

[Rob H.]

21. Johnson says she told a manager,"...I refuse to comply with this policy."

She admits that she refused to comply with company policy and now she's going to try to sue for religious discrimination? Good luck with that, lunkhead.

[Name removed]

23. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Odin2005]

24. Have a nice say, troll.

[rug]

25. I congratulate everyone for not making jokes about Johnson's name.

[laconicsax]

26. What, and deprive you of that opportunity? n/t

[rug]

27. I have a measure of self-control.

[laconicsax]

28. Apparently.

[NMMNG]

29. The thought never occured to me

Then again, I'm not a teenage boy so...

[deacon_sephiroth]

30. Macy's made it's choice too... not to keep you. bye bye n/t

[AsahinaKimi]

31. "by denying her the right to harass whichever customer she chooses."

Since when did this become a store policy?

[darkstar3]

32. For those who constantly shout for "respect", your attention please:

I don't see any "respect" being given to this asshole or her beliefs. So what's the deal, here? Why can a thread full of people essentially call this woman's religious beliefs stupid with impunity when other threads are loaded with statements about "respecting belief"?

Where's the consistency?

[beam me up scottie]

33. Hypocrisy?

If you resurrect ancient threads about scientology and mormonism in this forum you'll see it in spades.

[darkstar3]

35. A point the both of us have made from time to time.

Scientology is mocked harder by the Christians I know than it is by the atheists on any internet forum I've been on. Hypocrisy is the only way to explain such a phenomenon.

[laconicsax]

36. Same with LDS.

Pick a random thread about Mormons or the LDS church and you'll find "liberal" Christians openly mocking and attacking Mormon beliefs and practices.

[darkstar3]

37. But comparing God to Santa is hate speech with no place here.

Riiiiiiiiight.

[laconicsax]

38. Well, yeah. What else would you expect from organized atheists?

American Atheists is just a few members away from breaking down doors and hauling people off to be "re-educated."

[skepticscott]

40. "Hate speech" is another overstatement

Comparing parents who indoctrinate their children with religious beliefs as long and as rigidly as they are able to parents who allow their kids to believe in Santa until they grow out of it themselves is a bit silly. As is comparing the long-term harm done by childhood belief in Santa to the long-term harm of believing in the baby Jeebus and his sky daddy (since there is none of the former).

[darkstar3]

41. Something stuck in your craw?

[NMMNG]

34. It's a matter of degree and perspective

Of course the degree and perspective are left up to the individual believer.