In the current year, in order to signal to the Left that they don’t want to be shaken down by their lynch-mobs, many companies are opting to publicly endorse radical left-wing stances. Even though the majority of citizens may actually be opposed to certain beliefs, the Left exercises so much institutional power that they can easily cower folks into submission.
However, there still are plenty of companies willfully going down the progressive path, thinking that they’ll earn new customers and be ahead of the curb. We’ve seen this especially with the transgender bathroom issue, which places like Target have come out to support. And now we have another store to add to the list that will allow customers to use whichever restroom they please.
As reported at the New York Post, the egregiously over-priced Walgreens has decided to change its bathroom policies following an incident at one of their Los Angeles locations–proving that some people and corporations are dumb enough to make sweeping changes based on a single outlier incident.
The incident in question involved a woman that was supposedly denied access to the women’s restroom because she “looked like a man.”
The drugstore chain will now allow customers to “use restroom facilities that correspond to the individual’s gender identity, regardless of the individual’s sex assigned at birth,” according to officials.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California announced the policy change in a statement on Monday.
“Everyone needs safe restroom access, and California law protects every person’s right to access restrooms based on their gender identity in workplaces, schools, and business establishments,” explained ACLU SoCal Staff Attorney Amanda Goad. “It’s important for businesses to make sure their employees understand that requirement, just like Walgreens is now doing.”
Jessie Meehan, a self-declared activist in the LGBTQ community, claims she was discriminated against last summer by a manager at Walgreens on Sunset Boulevard.
She claims that after buying several products, she asked where the restroom was, but was allegedly denied access due to her appearance.
“She told me I looked like a man and needed to use the men’s room,” Meehan recalled during an interview with the ACLU.
She claims that when she asked for the manager, she was told that it’s standard procedure for the store to make such decisions based on a person’s appearance.
“I had to go so I didn’t put up much of a fight and used the stall while the men used the urinals next to me,” Meehan wrote in an email to Walgreens. “This in itself was very humiliating for me and I felt extremely uncomfortable.”
Meehan initially wrote an angry letter to the chain, but it wasn’t until she got the ACLU involved that Walgreens actually responded.
“Through [Meehan’s] efforts, with the backing of the ACLU of Southern California, the Walgreens pharmacy chain with more than 8,000 stores nationwide adopted a policy to address bathroom discrimination,” the group said in its statement Monday.
While Meehan sought help from the ACLU, she never once asked for money or threatened to sue.
“I’ve been discriminated against my whole life based on my appearance, based on looking too male,” she told the ACLU. “[This was] the first time I actually said something about it, did something about it — and I can imagine thousands of people that don’t do anything about it when they feel bad about themselves.”
It’s interesting that the first time she said something about being “discriminated” against she went and called the ACLU. Also suspicious is that she already identifies as activist LGBTQ member, as many folks that identify as such go around looking for opportunities like this, to cry discrimination and use fear to get their way. A simple Google search and you’ll see why she might be mistaken for a man, considering it’s obvious she’s trying to appear as one.
Walgreens is free to do whatever it pleases, but making such a controversial policy change because of a single incident seems rather imprudent. I guess they’ll know if they made a good call when next year’s earnings are revealed.
Source: New York Post