Transgender-rights Activists Accuse J. Crew of Discrimination
By
Izzy Grinspan
/ Racked
J.Crew is
forever urging women to borrow their boyfriends' shirts, but according to civil
rights group Make the Road New York, that's about as open-minded as
the company gets when it comes to gender expression. The group staged a protest
outside the J.Crew on Fifth Avenue
on Sunday after the store failed a test to see whether it would hire a
transgender worker.
Make the Road sent two equally-matched applicants,
one trans and one not, to 24 different stores. At J.Crew, the trans applicant
was treated dismissively, while his testing partner was offered a job.
Interestingly, of the 24 stores surveyed, only Dean & Deluca offered jobs
to both testers, and the only place that offered a job solely to the
transgender tester was the Virgin Megastore—which can't be much solace to New York's transgender
population, since the Virgin stores closed last year.
"Today, with 12,600 dues-paying members, MRNY is a unique amalgam of worker center, legal clinic, citizenship school, mutual aid society, policy shop, protest factory and church. Its four offices in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island are an egalitarian oasis for members, who gather there for conversation and classes..."
