I'm sorry, we've sold out of the letters "B", "I", "G", "O" and "T."
I hate to break it to you folks, but your favorite craft store Hobby Lobby is at it again. Oh, we thought we were free to buy needlepoints of the American flag and sit around scented candles, discussing the downfalls of morality in our society, but we were wrong. How we were wrong.
In May, it was ruled that Hobby Lobby violated the Illinois Human Rights Act (that pesky little thing) when a female employee by the name of Meggan Sommerville was been banned from using the women's restroom for being trans. When she used it a customer, she received a written warning.
Sommerville had two options: Use the men's room, or use the restroom of the fast food restaurant across the street.
According to think progress,
Hobby Lobby continually moved the goal post as to what Sommerville would have to provide in order to be allowed access to the women’s room. At first, she was told she had to present legal authority of her gender change, so she gave them a copy of her court-ordered name change, her changed driver’s license, her changed social security card, a written medical explanation and verification of her transition from her health provider, and a copy of the Illinois Human Rights Act, which protects against discrimination on the basis of gender identity.
Hobby Lobby then required proof that she had undergone surgery on her genitals. In 2014, it changed again to changing her birth certificate; Illinois currently requires citizens to undergo some form of surgery in order to change the gender marker on their birth certificates.
There is so much wrong with this that I don't even know where to begin.
You are not defined by your genitalia. That much is obvious in the struggle for Trans Rights. It is no one's business what (if anything) you have changed, what you have or what you plan to do, especially not your employer's. Your body is your business and no one else has any fundamental right to know what you're doing with it.
The excessive paperwork required of her is an obvious way to humiliate her and I assume an attempt to get her to quit. I have left a job for almost a year due to health problems, and I had to provide nowhere near that amount of information.
I especially balk at the medical explanation-how is that even legal? Isn't that supposed to be protected information, especially considering how sensitive it is? And how is it their business why she needs these medical treatments? All of these issues strike me as something that should be between her and her insurance.
As if this isn't enough, Sommerville suffers from fibromyalgia, which can cause an overactive bladder. She has had to alter how she eats and drinks just to avoid using the restroom during work hours.
While the law stands on the side of Sommerville, and also not being a complete and utter asshole, Sommerville says that nothing has actually changed. Although it is 5 months later from when Borah ruled in her favor, the Illinois Human Rights Commission still has to affirm the decision.
With Hobby Lobby's track record, they might as well cover their walls in glitter spelling out #NOALLWOMEN.
Fuck these guys. I hope their insurance at least paid for Sommerville's transition.