A former Brooklyn, NY Forever 21 employee has filed a lawsuit against the company claiming harassment and discrimination after she began transitioning from male to female.
In the suit, Alexia Daskalakis, 22, claims her superiors mocked her as “disgusting” and “a hot mess,” and quotes one of her managers saying, “You used to be a hard worker when you were a guy, but not anymore.”
She was also fired with no explanation.
“I was devastated. You put all your hard work into working for one company, and they respond by being ruthless,” she told the Daily News. “It hurt.”
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Prior to January 2014, Alexia was still going by Anthony and had been promoted to visual merchandiser, but she knew deep down that something needed to change.
“I always played with Barbie dolls, and wore my mom’s high heels and clothes…I wrestled with it,” she said, but “I work hard. I figured my work ethic could trump any discrimination.”
That January she told her bosses about the transition, and “began dressing in a more traditionally feminine manner, such as wearing more form-fitting clothing and applying more traditionally feminine makeup.”
While co-workers and customers offered warm support, her immediate supervisor Patrick Walmsley started lashing out at her, calling her “useless.”
“You’re still a male, so you need to abide by the male dress code,” Patrick allegedly told Alexia.
She tried to reach out to Forever 21’s HR department, but calls went unanswered.
The suit, filed in Brooklyn federal court, seeks unspecified money damages.
“The transgender community faces a variety of challenges,” said Alexia’s lawyer David Gottlieb, “and it is disgraceful for employers to create additional hardship by discriminating against employees simply because of how they express and identify their gender.”
Alexia said, “I just hope I get justice for how I was treated.”
Realitycheck
Disgusting, what kind of garbage people behave and say things like that?
And in New York City of all places, this is insane.
Alex Rothwell
The bosses at 21 are the ones that are hot messes. I hope she wins her suit.
aliengod
@Masc Pride: I’d have to agree. I love a good drag show, but a guy shouldn’t be coming to work in drag. Too much of a distraction.
Masc Pride
@aliengod: Yeah, people like the human Barbie, the human Ken doll, Amanda LePore, etc. usually do performance work. It’s just not appropriate to come into the workplace looking so extreme, especially since that’s not how he started out.
Captain Obvious
@aliengod: Queerty just used a bad picture and shame on you for agreeing with that obvious troll. Transgender people go through an awful lot and don’t deserve hateful comments whatsoever. When it’s coming from gay people it’s just ironic and sad.
http://i2.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article5448323.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/Alexia-Daskalakis.jpg
aliengod
@Captain Obvious: I wasn’t aware that @Masc Pride was a troll. I’ve never communicated with him before. But I’m not sure how anyone would think it’s appropriate to show up at work in drag. Maybe if you work in a gay club, but this was at a retail store. I wasn’t trying to be hateful.
onthemark
@aliengod: Trans is not drag! Where are you writing from, 1979?
excusemydust
Best of luck to Alexia in her lawsuit! 🙂 Hopefully it helps employers to recognize that safeguards need to be in place to protect transgender employees from this sort of abuse, and particularly wrongful terminations by prejudiced managers.
Scribe38
I wouldn’t clock her as being born male, but as woman with too much plastic surgery. If she was a good employee as a male, I can’t see her suddenly being a bad employee as a female.
Scribe38
@Captain Obvious: Wow she is actually hot in the other picture. Her boss most likely fired her because he was having mixed about his own manhood seeing her.
jason smeds
To me, it just looks like Daskalakis has adopted the long hair and make-up of women. It appears to be a superficial transition based on appearance. I’d like to know what’s going on inside. Sometimes it’s hard to tell.
The other thing you have to ask is whether Daskalakis’ personality changed as a result of his “transition”. If it did, and for the worse, it wouldn’t surprise me if his colleagues are upset with him. They would have every right to be.
In the case of many male-to-female trans folk, personality flaws lead to experimentation with different looks. There is a craving for attention that is typical of women in general. I’m not saying this is the case with Daskalakis but it bears thinking about.
Giancarlo85
The typical anti-trans people are out spouting off the same crap.
Giancarlo85
@jason smeds: I don’t think you’re in a position to criticize what personality flaws others have, when you don’t even have a personality to begin with. You are just a predictable useless troll.
Mykaels
I am going to wait for the actual case to hit the court and see what evidence is presented. This story is too one sided and I get the feeling she is not telling us “most” of what happened, especially from her point of view.
onthemark
@jason smeds: “There is a craving for attention that is typical of women in general.”
You have quite a craving for attention yourself, ma’am.