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Monthly Archives: October 2015
Walmart Sued By Transgender Woman Who Says She Was Harassed And Then Fired
Walmart Sued By Transgender Woman Who Says She Was Harassed And Then Fired
Walmart and one of its managers in a New Jersey store have been hit with a lawsuit alleging that a transgender employee was harassed and then fired over her gender identity.
Samantha Azzarano began working at Walmart store in Deptford, New Jersey as a service associate in September of 2012. In January of the next year, she informed a manager that she is transgender. Later that year, she began outwardly expressing her gender identity and had her name badge changed to Samantha. The lawsuit says that there were no problems with her coworkers or performance.
That is, until another manager, Sheena Wyckoff, joined Azzarano’s team in January of 2014. “That’s when the trouble began,” Azzarano’s lawyer, Kevin M. Costello, told ThinkProgress.
According to the complaint, Wyckoff referred to Azzarano as “Samantha, Robert [her birth name]…he/she…whatever,” “that fucking tranny,” and told Azzarano that “we are always walking on eggshells for you.” The use of the slur tranny is particularly troubling to Costello. “If we were at all uncertain about some of Ms. Wyckoff’s very obvious discriminatory remarks before that…this kind of put the nail in the coffin,” he said. “The word ‘tranny’ is not a word that acceptable to use to describe a trans person. It’s as unacceptable as a racial epithet to describe a black person.”
The complaint also alleges that Wyckoff directed an inordinate amount of criticism at Azzarano, raised her voice and yelled at her, and eventually started writing Azzarano up and coaching her on her performance, none of which was done to other workers who weren’t transgender.
“Clearly she had a problem with Samantha being Samantha,” Costello said.
The incidents culminated in Wyckoff firing Azzarano in June of 2014. Walmart did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Azzarano told her legal team that she wanted to bring the lawsuit on behalf of herself, given that the law protects her from discrimination, and any other transgender people at Walmart who may have experienced similar abuse. The lawsuit seeks to stop any ongoing abuse of transgender people at Walmart and the reinstatement of Azzarano’s job plus backpay.
She’s right that she should be protected from workplace discrimination as a transgender woman. Thanks to a provision in New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination that stipulates protections based on gender identity and expression, hers is one of just 19 states and Washington D.C. where transgender people are explicitly covered by anti-discrimination laws. Federal law doesn’t enumerate protections for gender identity in the workplace, although the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has ruled that it violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which bans sex-based discrimination.
The landscape would be clearer and more uniform, however, with an explicit ban. The Equality Act, a bill introduced in Congress this summer, would explicitly ban employment discrimination against all LGBT people. Among surveyed transgender people, 90 percent say they have experienced harassment or mistreatment at work or had to take actions to avoid it, while about half have been fired, not hired, or denied a promotion because of their gender identity. They also experience an unemployment rate double that of the general population.
The post Walmart Sued By Transgender Woman Who Says She Was Harassed And Then Fired appeared first on ThinkProgress.
Bryce Covert
thinkprogress.org/economy/2015/10/14/3712270/walmart-transgender-lawsuit/
This Underwear Company Wants To Change Our Idea Of The 'Perfect' Male Body
This Underwear Company Wants To Change Our Idea Of The 'Perfect' Male Body
A European clothing company is pledging to no longer be a brand “just for the perfect man” and instead to become a clothing line for all types of guys.
Dressmann, based in Norway, rolled out a campaign in September called #JustTheWayYouAre to highlight different body types and “broaden the picture of what a perfect body can look like,” according to promotional materials.
“We want to overcome limiting beliefs that some bodies are better, more beautiful or more normal than others,” Knut Vidar Nilsen, marketing director at Dressmann, said in a statement. “Simply, we want to show that there is no perfect man, there are only perfect men.”
Dressmann started that effort with a new ad featuring several different men, including older guys, a skinny dude and a hairier and larger man in addition to the typical muscular male model.
“It’s about being confident in who you are, not what the fashion industry tells us is the perfect man,” Jens Bonesmo, Dressmann’s brand director, told The Huffington Post.
Watch the Dressmann ad, “Underwear for perfect men:”
The fashion chain said in a behind-the-scenes video that it was “lost” in fashion industry standards but wants to “get back to reality.” So far, it looks like it’s working: sales went up 30 percent in September compared to the same month a year earlier, a spokesman said.
One-third of guys have negative feelings about their body, according to a survey of 2,068 men in Norway and Sweden that TNS Sifo conducted with Dressmann over the summer and shared with HuffPost. The survey also showed more men are worried about their physical appearance than their financial circumstances or social life.
A majority blame advertising for fueling that anxiety, rather than TV, films or celebrities.
The TNS Sifo/Dressmann survey results reinforce previous findings from Britain and the United States that show a majority of men have their own body image problems. It’s not just guys feeling fat — there are plenty of men who are self-conscious because they feel too skinny, which the campaign also seeks to address.
Even guys who many think are in great shape can feel bad about their body.
Jamie Dornan, a former Calvin Klein underwear model and star of “50 Shades Of Grey” said earlier this year he “always felt skinny and small” and still gets down about his appearance today. “Now I have the same insecurities as when I was a kid,” he told the Irish Independent.
Matt McGorry recently told Yahoo! about going from being a bodybuilder to an actor and still feeling nervous about going shirtless on screen. After his shirtless scene came out, he imagined people would think he looked imperfect, but he never actually encountered a negative reaction.
“It’s funny because from one perspective you could say, ‘Oh, he’s letting himself go,’ but from another perspective, I just don’t need that validation I once did,” said McGorry, who stars in “Orange Is The New Black.” “I still love working out, and I think it’s good for my health, and I feel good doing it. I haven’t gone more than two weeks without working out in years. But I think with mental health, allowing myself to be who I am naturally in terms of my body, I think that’s sort of practicing more self-love that way.”
Older men, too, can feel left out. An increasing number of aging males have opted to use plastic surgery in recent years to look younger, according to the AARP.
Well played #dressmann. #justthewayyouare .. Are you taking notes @gant1949? pic.twitter.com/bscHbY2caw
— Under New Management (@unmgmt) September 7, 2015
Which is one of Dressmann’s points — that it’s not just young guys who feel tubby. Fifty-six percent of men in the TNS Sifo/Dressmann survey said they strongly believed advertising should better reflect different body types and ethnicities, as well as ages.
“We have focused this campaign to be about all kinds of men,” Bonesmo said. “And as a brand for all men, I think it was about time that someone said, relax and be perfect, just the way you are.”
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Tyler Kingkade is a senior editor and reporter for HuffPost in New York. You can contact him at [email protected], or on Twitter: @tylerkingkade.
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Open Question: Lgbt Jessica Is man?
Transgender Advocate in Arkansas: “I’m Proud to be Who I Am”
Transgender Advocate in Arkansas: “I’m Proud to be Who I Am”
Coming out, whether it is as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or allied is a deeply personal journey for each individual. For openly transgender advocate Andrea Zekis, coming out took several decades and is still a part of her everyday life.
HRC.org
Sometimes Hot Things Come In Size XS
Sometimes Hot Things Come In Size XS
Whether it’s underwear, swimwear, or your basic apparel piece, the first and most important thing is how a piece of clothing fits your body. And for guys with narrow waists, size small still doesn’t fit quite right. Enter XS men’s underwear. XS pairs may be hard to come by, since not every men’s brand goes smaller than a small. But there are a few brands that remember XS-sized men. And fortunately, they know a small waist doesn’t always translate to a small package.
You can see more of this photo shoot with model Kai Braden on The Underwear Expert.
Photo Credit: Jerrad Matthew Exclusively for The Underwear Expert
Underwear Expert
feedproxy.google.com/~r/queerty2/~3/AwE5dFmYnmI/sometimes-hot-things-come-in-size-xs-20151014
A court in central France has officially registered a person as being "gender neutral" rater than either male or female – the first ruling of its kind in France.
A court in central France has officially registered a person as being "gender neutral" rater than either male or female – the first ruling of its kind in France.
submitted by Libertatea
[link] [2 comments]
A court in central France has officially registered a person as being “gender neutral” rater than either male or female – the first ruling of its kind in France.
byu/Libertatea inlgbt
‘If You Could Be Straight, Would You?’ – WATCH
‘If You Could Be Straight, Would You?’ – WATCH
Have you ever wondered whether life would be easier if you were straight? Or whether, if it were possible to be straight, you would want to be straight?
This is the subject of a new video that asks 8 queer men and women (identifying across a spectrum of gay, bisexual, lesbian, and pansexual) whether they would want to be straight if they could be. While most agree that being gay is “not the easiest life,” the panel was unanimous when asked if they would be straight if it were somehow possible.
“God no,” said one respondent. Another answered, “I love being gay.” “Not being straight is awesome.” Amen.
Watch the video, below:
The post ‘If You Could Be Straight, Would You?’ – WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.
Sean Mandell
IMG_2935
margaritasharapova posted a photo:
WATCH: That Time Madonna Helped A Couple Get Engaged
WATCH: That Time Madonna Helped A Couple Get Engaged
A Canadian couple standing in the front row at Madonna’s show in Edmonton, Alberta Sunday night got the thrill of a lifetime when the Queen of Pop prompted them to get engaged, as Pink News reported.
A YouTube video captured the moment Madonna told a fan named Jan to propose to his boyfriend Chad, before the sold-out crowd of nearly 17,000 fans.
She toyed with Jan at first, telling him “Jan” is “a girl’s name,” to which he replied, “no!” Madonna, who clearly was not out to offend, played with them some more by telling Jan, “You’re the girl,” and Chad, “You’re the boy.” She also briefly mixed-up Chad’s name, calling him, “Jack.”
But the couple took it all in stride, as Jan turned to the mike and shouted to Chad, “I love you with all my heart, Chad. Will you marry me, please?”
Chad gladly and swiftly accepted and Madonna announced, “You may kiss the bride!”
The tens of thousands crowded into Rexall Place cheered and applauded as they watched the newly engaged couple kiss on the arena’s Jumbotron.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Canada for a decade.
But Madonna wasn’t done: “You forgot the most important part,” she said. “You need to catch the bouquet.”
And after tossing flowers to Jan and Chad, another fan handed Madonna crucifix on a chain, which she promptly put around her neck. “You get a bouquet, I get a crucifix,” said Madonna. “It all works out.”
Watch the proposal from YouTube, below:
Dawn Ennis
www.advocate.com/music/2015/10/14/watch-time-madonna-helped-couple-get-engaged
