August 12, 2009
Another Sex Stereotyping/Gender Identity vs. Sexual Orientation Case
MM

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/laborprof_blog/2009/08/another-sex-stereotypinggender-identity-vs-sexual-orientation-case.html

Genderbender Matthew Heller at On.Point has this story on a hair stylist, terminated because he dressed in too feminine a manner.
One supervisor allegedly told Brant he was "too flamboyant" for male clients. He was fired in August 2008 –- shortly after he asked Chop Shop owner Kathy Thomas why he had to abide by different rules than female stylists.

"In response thereto, Kathy stated, 'it is okay for a girl to look like a dyke, but it is not socially acceptable for [Plaintiff Brant] to look like a girl,'" the complaint, which seeks unspecified damages for sex discrimination and retaliation, says. According to his complaint, the stylist also "typically dresses in women's dress pants and shirts, and wears shoes with a heel. He curls his eye lashes and uses brown mascara, and also uses gel blush to color his cheeks. His hair is about chin-length."

I hope I don't get terminated for dressing like a dyke...

he was "too flamboyant" for male clients.

This cracks me up.  Aren't most men who go to a 'hair stylist' some where on the spectrum running from flaming ->-bleeped-<- to metrosexual?  Really, average guys go to barber shops. So who are they worried about?  I'm not sure I'd trust any guy working as a 'hair stylist' in a 'salon' who wasn't screaming.

As Homer Simpson said:
I like my beer cold, my TV loud and my homosexuals flaming

If you want a regular guy to cut your hair while you sit and read Field and Stream and discuss the Giants or the Phillies, then you go to a barber shop.

From reading the court findings it seems Brumble & Brumble was exactly the place anyone who doesn't conform to gender stereotypes would want to work, if they were into hair.  They had many gay & lesbian employees, flamboyant attire was common, there was a FTM employee and the manager was MTF who transitioned on the job. Where's the discrimination?

I guess somebody didn't like being told they sucked at their job. 

Julie