Guess the state!

[theweaselking]

McDonald's to transgendered teenaged job applicant: "We don't hire faggots."

For bonus clever points, the manager in question left this message as a recording, on the applicant's answering machine, giving said applicant a permanent copy for use in the lawsuit.

[Poll #1495761]

Comments

[thipe.livejournal.com]

Damn you Florida, for some reason I thought you were better than that.

[stormfeather.livejournal.com]

I didn't, but I still thought it sounded more like Ohio.

[angelcorrine.livejournal.com]

If it was in Ohio the discrimination would have more of a religious overtone.

[jsbowden.livejournal.com]

Is 'we don't hire faggots' anything BUT religiously motivated? I totally picked Ohio on this one, and would appear to have been incorrect.

[silmaril.livejournal.com]

Oh, it can be plenty "ew, icky, also I iz teh insecures!" motivated, too. Whether that is instilled religiously or not.

[stormfeather.livejournal.com]

Hrm, true, to me at least one major default though is "Good ol' Christian values," hence why I picked Ohio. Boo.

[ice-hesitant.livejournal.com]

When it's motivated by peer ignorance and historic trends in macho bonding.

[theweaselking.livejournal.com]

Sorry, sorry, since when does that phrase you used *not* decribe religion?

[dreamshade.livejournal.com]

Damn you Florida, for some reason I thought you were better than that.

Are we talking about a different Florida?

[thipe.livejournal.com]

Touche :/

[gothpanda.livejournal.com]

From the message, it sounds like the manager was personally offended. He must have been attracted to Bellamy, which would explain the homophobic "OMG you're a man you lied to me!" reaction. Poor thing, I can't imagine getting a horrible message like that. I'm glad she is suing! More transgender people should!

[athelind.livejournal.com]

He must have been attracted to Bellamy...

Let me state right off that this guy was a complete asshole, his actions were actionable, and I hope Miss Bellamy's lawyers roast him alive in court.

I am not defending him or his actions in any way.

However, speaking as someone who's working very, very hard to use his intellect and empathy to override four decades of deep-rooted cultural programming, I think the idea that people only react poorly to TG people if they're Religious Fanatics or Secretly Attracted To Them is overly simplistic.

A lot of people are still closely wedded to the Gender Binary; it cascades into a complex array of gender-biased expectations and responses. Those responses give a handy flowchart for how to interact with anyone who fits into an assortment of pigeonholes: People of the Same Sex, People of the Opposite Sex Whom I Find Attractive, and People of the Opposite Sex Whom I Find Unattractive are only three of them.

If that set of programmed responses are disrupted by someone who doesn't fit into ANY of those pigeonholes, they get flustered and defensive and angry because they don't know how to respond.

I know I still get flustered, though I don't get angry and I don't think I get defensive. My version of "flustered" is more along the lines of, "I hope I don't say anything stupid. Where are my eyes? Don't look there! Shit, did I just screw up my pronouns?"

Once again, I am not trying to defend the actions of this guy. I'm just pointing out that, contrary to popular assumptions, there's more going on in cismale + cisfemale (or presumed cisfemale) interactions than evaluating potential bed partners.

[cysfics.livejournal.com]

Thank you. You managed to say what I was thinking but couldn't get out properly.

[gothpanda.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. There are lots of people who become uncomfortable with transgender people for reasons that have little to do with attraction, but in this particular case, based on the words he uses and the tone of his accusations, I think he was offended on a personal level. That's not a defense of his actions--his behavior was deplorable and hopefully Miss Bellamy's case will come out in her favor--it's merely an explanation for his idiocy.

Of course, trying to explain bigotry is always a bit pointless, but it really sounded to me ("You lied to me") that he felt like she'd been flirting with him and made "promises." That assumption would be disgusting regardless of whether Miss Bellamy was transgender. Wouldn't surprise me if he's sexually harassed some of the women who work for him, though of course that's only speculation.

[misanthrope-mom.livejournal.com]

Exactly - While, yes, it is important to explain how not everyone fits into these categories, almost all children go through a period where it's very important to them to identify male and female (not like, playing doctor, just being able to point and say, "that's a girl," etc.)

But, yah, this guy's an ass.

[anivair.livejournal.com]

Florida never fails to disappoint. then again, I live in Ohio, so I can't say too much.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_jeremiad/]

Glad she's suing.

[almostwitty]

Doubt it'll help. Aside from anything else, the McDonalds franchisee thing kinda means that McDonalds HQ can just go "nothing to do with us!"

[http://users.livejournal.com/_jeremiad/]

a) She's suing that particular Orlando McDonald's, not the entire McDonald's corporation.

b) Every lawsuit, every bit of public visibility, everytime someone says "Hey, this isn't right. I'm going to do something about it" helps, even if the person in question doesn't get the outcome they wanted.

[almostwitty]

Ah ok. I'm British, I'm cynical and despondent about everything ;)

[ladyfox7oaks.livejournal.com]

(I love your icon, and am thinking of getting a paid account- JUST so I can get more icon space!)

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

Every lawsuit, every bit of public visibility, everytime someone says "Hey, this isn't right. I'm going to do something about it" helps, even if the person in question doesn't get the outcome they wanted.

Unless it's part of some atheist librul Christian plot to destroy Amurrka.

[kadath.livejournal.com]

Dammit, who keeps leaking our memos?

[mcfnord.livejournal.com]

http://girlpirate.livejournal.com/760665.html

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

Someone's a huge fan of DJ Ruby Rod, i see.

[sanityimpaired.livejournal.com]

That was awesome. It was also headache-inspiring. Somebody needs to buy this person a better microphone.

[ladyfox7oaks.livejournal.com]

WOW, what a CHARMING Voice mail! I'm glad she saved it, I'm very glad it's out on youtube where everyone can hear it and sneer in disdain at the guy, and I hope her lawyers roast him ALIVE, slowly, over one of the grills he cleans daily.