Macy’s fires woman for refusing ‘transgender’ man access to women’s fitting room
SAN ANTONIO, Texas, December 8, 2011 – A woman has been fired from a Macy’s department store for denying a man dressed as a woman access to the women’s fitting room.
“I had to either comply with Macy’s or comply with God,” said Natalie Johnson, 27, a former employee at the retail giant’s location in Rivercenter Mall, San Antonio.
Natalie Johnson says she was concerned for her female customers, who she thought might be uncomfortable about having a man in their fitting room.
According to Johnson, on November 30th she witnessed a young cross-dressing man wearing make-up and girl’s clothing exit the women’s fitting room. She told the man “politely” that the women’s fitting room was for women only, making it clear that he was not to make use of the room again.
The customer, along with five companions, argued in response that Macy’s is friendly to the LGBT community.
Johnson retorted that Macy’s doesn’t discriminate against religious beliefs, adding that it would go against her religious beliefs to act on a lie that a man was a woman.
“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,” said Johnson, a member of Tabernacle of Prayer, to My San Antonio.
Johnson says she believes that she was acting for the good of her female customers who she thought might be uncomfortable about having a man in their fitting room.
The group demanded to see the manager, who, siding with the transgendered person, pointed Johnson to Macy’s LGBT policy, which allows transgender persons to change in any dressing room of their choice.
The manager gave Johnson an ultimatum: comply with the LGBT policies or lose her job.
Johnson replied that the policy was against her sincerely held religious convictions. She was fired the next day.
“I was fired for standing up for what I believe in,” she said.
The conservative Christian law firm Liberty Counsel has decided to take Johnson’s case.
“Macy’s policy which allows men to use the women’s dressing room is fraught with problems,” the firm stated in a press release on Monday.
“Macy’s has essentially opened women’s dressing rooms to every man. The LGBT agenda has become the theater of the absurd.”
Matt Staver, Liberty Counsel’s founder and chairman, told My San Antonio that his firm is fighting for Johnson to help her reclaim her job and to change Macy’s policy.
“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.”
The American Family Association (AFA) is urging people to contact Macy’s headquarters to express “outrage at this injustice to female employees and customers.”
“Macy’s has done a great injustice by firing Natalie Johnson, whose first priority is the welfare and safety of Macy’s customers,” reads the lines of a draft e-mail composed by AFA that can be sent directly to Macy’s president, Terry Lundgren, and other key executives.
AFA says it would like to see Macy’s apologize to Johnson, to reinstate her position in the company, and to put safeguards in place that will protect all women customers from men who desire to enter their fitting rooms.
Contact information:
Terry J. Lundgren, President Macy’s
7 West Seventh Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Ph: (513) 579-7000, or (513) 579-7764
Fax: 513-579-7555
E-mail: macys_execs@macys.com
7 West Seventh Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Ph: (513) 579-7000, or (513) 579-7764
Fax: 513-579-7555
E-mail: macys_execs@macys.com
Express your concerns to Macy’s president and key executives in one stop using AFA’s online e-mail service.
