Javier Chavez, a Macy’s employee in Queens, New York, has been fired over his questioning of a man entering the women’s bathroom.
A concerned customer and her daughter had reported that a man had entered into the women’s bathroom. They sought out Chavez, the store’s Senior Detective, to check on the situation and ask the man to leave the women’s bathroom. Upon being questioned about his intentions, the man informed Chavez that he was really a transgendered woman, and promptly reported the Senior Detective’s “insensitivity” to the store’s managers.
The store’s management sided with the man who granted himself access to the women’s bathroom and fired their 26-year detective, Javier Chavez, on the grounds that he had broken the company’s policy of inclusion.
Chavez says that he was never told about the store’s policy that allowed men to utilize women’s facilities. Initially, Chavez was suspended in the incident. Even after informing the managers that he would submit to and abide by the policy, he was terminated after disclosing that his beliefs about sex and gender were faith-based.
“After my employer learned that I was a practicing Catholic, with religious concerns about this policy, I was terminated because of my religion, in violation of the New York State Human Rights Law.”
This is not the first time Macy’s has fired an employee over issues with men in designated women’s areas. In 2011, Natalie Johnson, an employee at a San Antonio-area Macy’s was fired after blocking a transgendered person from using the women’s dressing rooms.
We’re living in a paradoxical time where our society will stand up, applaud, and affirm the speech and beliefs of some while standing against the beliefs and speech of others, and punishing those who object. A major principle of the transgender movement is diversity and acceptance. However, it appears there is little acceptance by the LGBT community of those who hold beliefs which divert from their own.
Facilities laws being implemented all over our country aim to allow individuals to utilize whatever locker room, shower, or restroom they want without question, fear, or discomfort. Again, it’s a paradox: our culture is passionately and adamantly against rape culture, as we should be. Yet, we pass bills that invite biological men into women’s private areas.
If our nation really had respect for women and children, we’d do more than get #yesallwomen trending. If we actually cared, we would fight these laws that directly and negatively impact the privacy of our women and children.
