Despite having a gay man as a mascot, McDonaldâs has a losing record with queers. Most recently thereâs the case of Crissy Polis who got a transphobic beatdown for using the restroom of a Baltimore County McDonaldâs. This April 21-year-old Anthony Bray got beat up and called a âfucking faggotâ by two men outside a NYC Micky Dâs. But these arenât isolated incidents. Letâs look over the entire menu of homo- and trans-phobic hate served up at the golden arches!
In May 2008, an employee at a Louisville restaurant called two gay guys âfaggots,â and one a âcocksuckerâ and a âbitch.â (They settled the matter.) In September 2008, an HIV-positive Micky Dâs employee working in Dubuque, Iowa, allegedly got slapped with a piece of cheese, called a âfaggot rat,â and told to watch his back because he might get shot. He was then fired (and sued for wrongful termination.
And when it comes to trans people, McDonaldâs has an even lousier record. You may remember Christina Sforza, a transwoman beaten with a lead pipe by a McDonaldâs manager for shooting insulin in the womanâs bathroom. And then thereâs the Orlando McDonaldâs manager who left a voicemail for 17-year-old transwoman applicant, Zikerria Bellamy, explaining his refusal to hire her because âwe do not hire faggots.â
Listening to his his message, you can actually hear the personal hurt in his voice when he asks, âHow could you ever lie to me?â While itâs possible that the cowardly manager didnât tell Bellamy about his âno faggotsâ policy during their interview because he didnât realize she was trans until later, it also sounds as if heâs seen Bellamy applying at his location numerous times and finally worked up the chutzpah to leave a bold message on her machineâitâs a case of HR trans-panic that would make Mayor McCheese cry tears of fancy ketchup.
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The Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund took up her case. In their own defense the company may point to their resolution of the Louisville, Kentucky caseâin which, Micky Dâs made their bigoted employees take diversity training and awarded $2,000 to the two âfaggotsââas proof of their commitment to diversity. But that settlement hardly sets a precedent for avoiding such conflicts and harassment in the future.
But even still McDonaldâs has an uneven record with the LGBT community. In October 2008, the bigoted American Family Association led a 5-month-boycott against the restaurant because a Micky Dâs executive board member [UPDATE: gave approved an organizational donation of] $20,000 to the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. When that executive resigned and went to work for McDonaldâs Canada, Micky Dâs would neither confirm nor deny that he had done so in response to the boycott.
But the clown could easily turn this frown upside down with a little retooling. If the 1 in 10 gay statistic is right, chances are they already have loads of gay employees slipping hot meat and special sauce between everyoneâs buns. Their stock went up during the AFA boycott and so theyâd have little to fear and much to gain if theyâd simply make LGBT-sensitivity part of their orientation. Thatâd give them a much better legal cushion to fall back on should such an event happen again.
Even still, we recommend you get your daily allotment of deep-fried saturated fats elsewhere.
Kev C
Some people fight back
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT2UmZxzmjs
Gooseilini
Take a look at the people who work at McDonald’s. Education is not a requirement of the position. Same goes for the people who eat there. Well, for the most part. I did have chicken nuggets the other day.
Epi
@Kev C: Who the hell throws hot grease at anybody?
ChloĂŤ
Tranny here. I think @Gooseilini‘s got it right, and I think that ties a lot into the location as well. When stories about this sort of stuff crop up, they tend to be in regions I’d never step foot in anyway. Meanwhile, where I live, I’ve never so much as been looked at funny by a McDonalds employee. Now if there were an obvious issue in upper management, maybe I’d care, but with so many employees in so many places, is it a wonder that they end up with a similar distribution of asshats as are floating around anywhere else?
Josie -Bill
if it’s a family fast food place i think LGBT people are not someones child sister brother anti or unki too!
p.s. some have children even the transsexuals
scott ny'er
@Gooseilini: whatever. I worked fast food and a donut shop. And I wasn’t an asshole. Not everybody is rich. Your comment doesn’t make any sense.
TMikel
I never eat at MacDonald’s any more. Not only is the food bad for you – WAY too much fat and empty calories, but their record on these social issues is appalling. Once some years ago at my neighborhood Manhattan MacDonald’s, I was threatened and called a “faggot” by other customers and the staff and manager did nothing, even when I asked for assistance. So I stopped giving them my money.
porter
The image accompanying the article is FANTASTIC!
Joey T
WOW! I never knew how homophobic they are! I will happily give my fast food money to my fav. fast food place, Burger King!
Riker
@Joey T: McDonalds as a whole isn’t homophobic. They don’t actually run the stores themselves, they sell franchise licenses. The franchise owners are the ones who hire staff and run the business, and if someone is mistreated there it is the owner’s responsibility, not the corporation. In many cases, it is difficult for McDonalds to revoke the license unless gross negligence can be proven.
My first protest
I was at the protest in Louisville at the Mc Donaldâs. Ironically enough just a few month prior to the Prop 8 decision. What made the matter so confusing was that the location where Mc Donaldâs is it shares a parking lot with a gay bar called Triangles. It is also just a few blocks from a major gay club, Connections to which just last month Lady GaGa made a cameo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPqV7Hmq5WU
(note) not a GaGa fan, but the part of town is heavly populated with LGBT night clubs and bars.
For the patron to enter into Mc Donald for a bite to eat that is LGBT is quite the norm. So for this to take place and the lack of action taken from the manager was a huge no no!!
The attitudes have changed because it would take nothing to redirect business elsewhere and close it down.
declanto
Does anybody have any figures concerning the ratio of homophobes in a given population? For example, if we know that 1/10 are mo’s, how many are homophobic? It seems to be endemic. Is there a balance sheet somewhere?
@Joey T: Is there a difference?
Pinkish Hugh
@Riker: Thank you for pointing out that this isn’t a case of a corporation waging war against the gay community (as Queerty would have us believe). It’s about individuals behaving abhorrantly. It never fails to amaze me how so many of my gay brothers and sisters seem to live for the sole purpose of playing the victim.
Riker
@Pinkish Hugh: You’re welcome. Some corporations *are* evil, and actively work against our rights. Walmart is one, but then again they hate just about everybody. Target is borderline (they treat their gay employees very well, but they have some deep flaws). McDonalds as a whole, because of their company structure, isn’t responsible for the actions of these individuals.
If you’ve been mistreated at a particular store, then by all means feel free to take your business elsewhere. The only people a total boycott of McDonalds would hurt is the employees who already make minimum wage. If the owners see a drop in business, they have to cut hours or lay people off to compensate. Think back to every crappy job you’ve ever had, and how much you needed the extra few dollars a week to make ends meet.
David Ehrenstein
Once could always go somewhere else and eat REAL food — couldn’t one?
Ken
Each MacDonalds location is a franchise. McDonalds owns the facilities, but the franchisee owns the business. In other words, the McDonalds chain of genuine imitation restaurants is really a chain of independent businesses that all have the same supplier. It isn’t necessary to boycott the entire corporation. Just organize a boycott of the offending location. It’s possible to make the location unprofitable, driving out the franchisee. The franchisee is the immediate problem. Since McDonalds has contracts with all their franchisees, it may take a while for them to implement changes to stop this problem globally, but you can solve it locally right now.
Kev C
McDonalds is just not a safe place to eat at. That’s what it comes down to. No one cares about your safety and it’s a haven for criminals to hang at. All the more reason to eat a healthy meal at home.
~PR~
@Gooseilini: Way to be just as bigoted as some of their employees are to us. Many people who work at places like McDonalds are going to college to get their degrees… because, y’know… those do not grow on trees. Nor are they free to everyone. So, congrats on making a sweeping generalization that makes YOU look every bit as hateful and bigoted as those handful of people mentioned.
Shannon1981
There is a bit of discrepency in the record of Mickey D’s. There is a story in the archives on this site from a few months ago of them firing- and permanently banning- a manager who left a nasty message about ‘faggots’ on the answering machine of a transgender teen who applied for a position there. So they aren’t ALL homo/transphobic, and that is not their company’s general policy. They aren’t Chik Fil A. McDonald’s as a whole does not have an anti LGBT rights agenda. However, the beating of the trans woman in Baltimore in the McDonald’s restroom is alarming, as are the events mentioned here.
At the end of the day, I am totally wary of fast food places. The IQ’s of the people who run and work at them are generally lower than room temperature, and ignorance is rampant. However, blanket generalizations are dangerous and unfair.
Paul
I don’t think the company is homophobic as a whole. They, after all, released the commercial below (albeit in France). But there are obviously bigoted people working for the company. If McDonald’s does not want its company name besmirched, every branch should provide the same quality of service to its customers and enforce non-discriminatory hiring policies in all of their branches. Otherwise, commercials like the one below would be nothing more than blatant lies. I know it’s not possible to have 100% compliance within the company, but McDonald’s should at least try to do something to stop this bigotry that is not only hurting their company, but also innocent members of the LGBTQ community who are being punished merely for coming to McDonald as they are.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBuKuA9nHsw
declanto
Luck us, who can afford to hold our noses when passing by on the other side of the street. Yes, fast-food franchises are the pits, but they would not exist without the economic niche they serve. The employees and customers are hostage to economic neccesity. You have to work, you have to eat. How much money is in your pocket? Lucky You! Lucky me! I can eat real food today! Low-cost food draws poverty. Ignorance is endemic to poverty.
Riker
@Shannon1981: I love how you say generalizations are unfair in the sentence right after you make a generalization about McDonalds employees. You even used the word “generally”!
declanto
@Riker: I noted that too, and thought… no, it’s just too obvious, its gotta be a joke.
John
Okay here’s the skinny, as was stated many of the stores in the US are franchises, McDonald’s does have about 350 Corporate owned and operated stores. Complaints with the national Mcdonald’s does eventually filter down to the local franchise.
As a former gay employee of both a franchise and corporate store(s), I have seen the worse of the worse and the best of the best. As a gay man, I stand up for my rights, and if a employee goes off on a rant about LGBT – I politely remind them, the customer is always right.. and if that doesn’t work – short re-education lesson after work usually does the trick.
McDonalds is no better or worse then any other quick service restuarant. And just so you know, I never came out at a McDonald’s until after I was hired. And in one case, I dared them to fire me… I was the most experienced crew member there. Soldier on All!
Lucas
@John Lol I work at a McDonald’s too đ