Discrimination at Kohl's

[valyn_faer]

I was told I'm not allowed to use the women's fitting rooms today at Kohl's. I tried to explain to her that I'm trans and that it's against Oregon state law to discriminate against me because of that, but she wouldn't really listen. I sent off an e-mail to Kohl's customer service about this. I'm debating whether or not I should call the store I visited, too, and ask for the supervisor. I don't want to, though. I'm really angry about this. *sigh* I wish Portland had better universities so I could live there. I have never had any problems in Portland, any of the times I've been up there. The most aggravating thing, though, is that I experience some form of discrimination from women on an almost daily basis, and only from women. Men seem to be pretty much indifferent of me. I've had maybe 3 instances of discrimination from men in the year that I've been out and living full time. And even then, all three were instances of some guy yelling something out his car window as he drove by, and all three times I'm not even sure what exactly was yelled. It irritates me like crazy that women in our society are allowed to negatively stereotype anyone and everyone who's born biologically male, or who looks male, as potentially dangerous. No one else is allowed to do this to anyone else. And the worse part about this is that ciswomen are actually statistically less likely to be victims of a violent crime than both transfolk AND men. Our society just values the safety and the lives of ciswomen over everyone else. I don't even want this jacket now. I want to take it back, get a refund, and never shop there again. But if I were to boycott every store that discriminated against me, I wouldn't have many places left to shop.

[Janet_Girl]

Definitely contact the store and explain the law to them.  Give them is Oregon Statue numbers if necessary.  The only way that they will ever learn is to educated them.  If you need to return the jacket.

Did you look at Portland State?  They seem to have a good program in regards to Transpeople.

[valyn_faer]

I did look into Portland State a bit before moving up here. I wanted to move to Portland, but I read some  bad things about that school so I decided on University of Oregon. I'm starting to think I should have gone with PSU anyway. Oh well. I'll probably go to PSU for grad school, which will be in about a year and a half or so. I'm thinking about returning the jacket. I have a feeling every time I wear it I'll just be reminded of this incident. It's a nice jacket, though, and I got it for less than half price. I feel like the incident bothered me more than it should have. Maybe it's because I've finally begun HRT, which I never thought would even be a financial possibility, and then to have this girl discriminate against me is like robbing me of this huge personal victory. To feel so happy about being able to do this and then to have someone smack me down and try to take away that happiness just makes it feel all the worse.

[Janet_Girl]

Valyn,

A personal observation here.  But returning the jacket this clerk yet again gets to discriminate against you.  She felt that you should not be allowed to buy it, so by returning it her point is proven.

By keeping it and wearing, she loses, you win.

[valyn_faer]

Very good point. I hadn't thought of it that way. Thank you.

[juliekins]

Perhaps this was a rogue employee with her own phobic outlook on trans people. It could stem from ignorance, upbringing, religious views or whatever.

Management should be made aware that one of their employees has been discriminating against you. Once they learn of this, they can take steps to fire or retrain this employee. I would give local management the chance to respond appropriately and according to the law.

Often, businesses are not aware of new laws regarding non-discrimination. Make them aware, and make them accountable and compliant.

[valyn_faer]

I'm inclined to think it's not, but I don't know for sure. I went into the fitting room to try things on a couple different times and hadn't noticed this employee before. When I came out of the fitting room the last time, she was waiting there to confront me and there was a crowd of people standing around watching like they were waiting to see her scold me. I'm inclined to think a customer complained and one of the other employees got her to confront me. But like I said, I don't know for sure. I sent an e-mail to their customer service account and indicated which store it was specifically. I'll probably give them a call today, too.

[Kentrie]

My mom was in Victoria's Secret and she went back to try on a bra and I started to walk back there and the woman said I had to stay outside because only woman could go back there. I felt awesome yet mad when she said that. Next time someone tells you to get out of the womens changing rooms just looked shocked and say "Why" and if they say only women can change in there say "Uh, I am a woman" make her look like an idiot, you don't need to prove you're a woman.