Macy’s fires Catholic employee for questioning transgender bathroom policy
Macy’s department store has fired a Catholic
employee because he questioned their transgender bathroom policy, even though
he says he told his employer he would enforce the policy.
Back in May, Javier Chavez, a senior
store detective at Macy’s Flushing, New York, location got a phone call about a
male accessing the ladies room along with a female.
A female customer and her daughter were afraid
to enter the restroom due the male’s presence there, and a security guard
reporting to Chavez directed the man to leave and use the men’s room. The man
left, claiming to be a female, before then complaining to the store officials
about being asked to leave.
Chavez was later informed by a Macy’s
assistant store manager that certain males can use the ladies restroom,
something he had not been made aware of prior to the incident. Then an
assistant security manager told Chavez that transgender individuals can use the
bathroom of their choosing.
Chavez responded that he had just become aware
of the policy. He said it was contrary to his religion and the Bible, but said
that even so, he would enforce Macy’s policy.
“Macy’s would not leave this alone,” Catholic
League President Bill Donohue stated, “and this is where it crossed the line.”
Chavez was then called to a meeting with his
human resources manager, who suspended him, and he was subsequently fired.
According to a legal complaint, the retailer
terminated Chavez even though he had not previously been made aware that Macy’s
allowed transgender individuals to use the bathroom of their choice, and also
in spite of the fact Chavez had promised to uphold the policy while working.
His case is now before the New York State Division of Human Rights.
“After my employer learned that I was a
practicing Catholic, with religious concerns about this policy, I was
terminated because of my religion, in violation of the New York State Human
Rights Law,” Chavez states in his complaint.
LifeSiteNews inquired with Macy’s for comment
but did not receive a response before press time.
Macy’s terminated another employee in the past
for acting to maintain the privacy of female customers in accord
with personally held religious convictions.
In 2011, Natalie Johnson was fired after
telling a cross-dressing male that the ladies’ fitting room was for women only.
The San Antonio woman had been instructed by her manager after the exchange to
comply with Macy’s LGBT policy under threat of being fired, to which Johnson
responded that it was against her religious beliefs. Macy’s let her go the next
day.
“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,” Johnson said at
the time. “I had to either comply with Macy’s or comply with God.”
Donohue said Macy’s had no lawful or moral
basis for terminating Chavez, and that in doing so, the retailer acted like a
totalitarian regime. He said as well that Macy’s actions conflict with the
principle of religious liberty.
“The most basic religious right is the right
to believe,” he said. “If conscience rights can be vitiated, the First Amendment
means nothing.”
“Macy’s has no legal, or moral, grounds to
stand on,” continued Donohue. “For merely holding beliefs that are contrary to
the store’s policy, Chavez was fired.”
