Some uncool behaviour...

Transgender teen 'disgusted' after being laughed at by Woolworths employee

by Josh Butler

A Wollongong transgender teen was left disgusted by supermarket staff  who laughed at him because he no longer resembled a driver's licence photo taken before his gender transition.

Ben*, 19, has been transitioning from female to male for 10 months. He attempted to buy cigarettes from Woolworths at Figtree on Monday afternoon.

After being asked for identification, he said he was refused sale because the cashier did not believe his story of being a transgender person.

"She looked at me funny, and said it wasn't me in the photo," Ben said.

"I've got a bit of facial hair from testosterone I'm taking, and in my photo I haven't got any. She laughed in my face when I told her my situation."

That is disgusting!!
That cashier should be named and sacked!!!

I'm surprised Woolworths still exists, they closed in the UK years ago...

Not sure its the same company,
Woolworths in Australia is huge, alongside wesfarmers its one of the largest non-mining/banking companies in Australia

I read the comments..

And I was amazed to see most were supportive or at least negative towards the bigots..

Shame on Woolworths. Seems it's almost proud of contributing to discrimination and harassment of trans folks. Though, if Woolworth's had defended harassment of a member of a more active group (a person of color, a Christian, or just about any nationality), especially in the U.S., there would be calls for a worldwide boycott. Luckily he was merely a trans guy and our community can't seem to muster that level of outrage. Looks like Woolworth's picked on the right group.

I had something similar happen back last year. While moments like this can hurt but I'm grateful it did happen to me. Because after it happened my name change had to became a major priority. You can go out there and complain when somebody does you wrong. But the best way to overcome that is turn a negative moment into a positive moment.

Oddly enough, that was the name of the lunch counter in Greensboro Nc that refused service to several black people back in 1960. Started a big protest and sit in that helped change a lot in the south.

The cashier's actions were beyond horrible. As someone who works at a grocery I understand the need to verify Id on ppl buying age restricted products. I have to do it every day. But you should never embarrass the customer n if there is a question you get the manager involved. Unfortunately this is an issue we all face when id n presentation don't match