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<H1 class="headline entry-title">Firing of Macy's worker pits freedom of
religion vs. GLBT rights</H1>
<H5 class=byline><SPAN class=name>By Abe Levy,
alevy@express-news.net</SPAN></H5>
<H5 class="timestamp updated" title=2011-12-08T02:12:08Z>Updated
02:12 a.m., Thursday, December 8, 2011 </H5></DIV>
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<P>A former Macy's employee who said she was fired for refusing to let a
transgender woman use the women's dressing room at the Rivercenter mall location
is trying to get her job back.</P>
<P>The case, pitting freedom of religion in the workplace vs. corporations'
growing acceptance for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
people, has attracted national attention.</P>
<P>Natalie Johnson said that on Nov. 30, she confronted the customer leaving the
women's fitting room and politely made clear no men were allowed.</P>
<P>Johnson said the customer wore makeup and dressed in women's clothes but was
recognizably a man.</P>
<P>The customer argued she was a woman, but Johnson said she held
her ground.</P>
<P>She said a manager called her in the next day.</P>
<P>Johnson said the manager told her transgender people are free to select which
fitting room to use. She replied that the policy was against her
religious convictions.</P>
<P>“I had to either comply with Macy's or comply with God,” said Johnson, 27, a
student at <A
href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Freligion&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22San+Antonio+College%22">San
Antonio College</A> and member of Tabernacle of Prayer, a nondenominational
church on the Southwest Side.</P>
<P>The customer's identity has not been revealed.</P>
<P>A spokeswoman from Macy's headquarters in Cincinnati said Wednesday in an
email that “we recognize and appreciate the diversity of our customers and
associates,” but that the company doesn't comment on personnel matters.</P>
<P>Chuck Smith, deputy executive director of Equality Texas, an Austin-based
nonprofit that opposes gender discrimination, said it's an issue
of fairness.</P>
<P>“Transgender people exist and buy clothes and shop and should be treated with
the same accommodations as any other person,” he said. “A transsexual woman is a
woman. And if the employee's religious beliefs keep her from carrying out her
functions on the job, then she should find another job.”</P>
<P>But Johnson wanted to keep her job, and took her case to the <A
href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Freligion&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Liberty+Counsel%22">Liberty
Counsel</A>, a conservative Christian law firm that advocates for
religious freedoms.</P>
<P>The firm helped her file a complaint with the <A
href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Freligion&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Equal+Employment+Opportunity+Commission%22">Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission</A>, saying her Christian faith and concerns
for safety and privacy in a changing room were ignored.</P>
<P>Matt Staver, the firm's founder and chairman, said Johnson wants her job back
and to reform or do away with Macy's policy. A third fitting room to avoid this
problem also would help, he said.</P>
<P>“This policy is fraught with problems because it opens up the fitting room
for anyone to come in, and employees are not permitted to question it,” Staver
said. “To me, it's a liability waiting to happen. It's just a matter of time
that a man goes into a female fitting room and watches women undress or, even
worse, rapes a woman.”</P>
<P>In May 2010, a transgender employee at a Macy's store in Torrance, Calif.,
sued the company, accusing it of gender discrimination and
wrongful termination.</P>
<P>But since 2007, Macy's has received the top rating of 100 percent in the <A
href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Freligion&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Human+Rights+Campaign%22">Human
Rights Campaign</A>'s evaluation of corporation's treatment of gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender people.</P>
<P>In the Rivercenter mall incident, Staver and Johnson said the customer was
accompanied by five friends who responded to her objections with expletives.
They reminded her of Macy's GLBT-friendly policy, including the use of
fitting rooms.</P>
<P>Johnson said she responded that the store also protects her practice of
religion, including her right not to ignore what she sees as a person's true
gender or to condone homosexuality.</P>
<P>They requested to speak with a manager.</P>
<P>Staver said that when Johnson met with her manager the next day, she asked if
Macy's had a policy protecting religious beliefs. She was let go by the end of
the meeting, he said.</P>
<P>She said being fired during the holiday season was particularly deflating,
but she's relieved her conscience is clean.</P>
<P>“Obviously, (Macy's) policy is not equal, because I was fired for standing up
for what I believe in,” Johnson said. “I couldn't lie and say that he was a
woman. I'm going to be accountable to what I say to my Lord Jesus. And I'm
taking up for my female customers who might feel uncomfortable with a man in the
fitting room.”</P>
<P>Johnson's pastor, Bishop <A
href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Freligion&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Robert+Doxie%22">Robert
Doxie</A>, backed her stand.</P>
<P>“We believe the Bible was right when it says God created men and women,” said
Doxie, who said his church is attended by 50 to 100 at an average service. “We
stand on that and promote that.”</P>
<P>But a minister at a local GLBT-friendly <A
href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Freligion&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Christian+church%22">Christian
church</A> said that while it may be tricky to make room for transgender people,
it's a matter of justice.</P>
<P>“Transgender people are who God created them to be and are authentically
living it out, and that means letting them decide which bathroom or dressing
room is best for them,” said the Rev. <A
href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Freligion&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Mick+Hinson%22">Mick
Hinson</A> of <A
title="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Freligion&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Metropolitan+Community+Church+of+San+Antonio%22
CTRL + Click to follow link"
href="http://www.mysanantonio.com/?controllerName=search&action=search&channel=news%2Freligion&search=1&inlineLink=1&query=%22Metropolitan+Community+Church+of+San+Antonio%22">Metropolitan
Community Church of San Antonio</A>.</P>
<P>“Macy's is supporting all people. I'm sorry this ex-employee felt this was a
religious issue, but if that's the case, she'll have problems in all walks of
life where people make decisions she doesn't
agree with.”</P></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>_______________________________</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Verdana>Wayne A. Fox<BR><A
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