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Originally Posted by ngdawg
Your scenarios fall under discrimination and, depending on laws on both state and federal levels can be grounds for at least lawsuits and possibly criminal charges. I for one, if found in any of those particular situations, would check out what rights I would have., especially in the rent scenario. No landlord, at least in the states here on the east coast, can discriminate against a potential renter at all. And, following the Denny's suit several years back, no restaurant can refuse service based on race or religious affiliation. That pharmacist should be ashamed of himself, really and I would have definitely filed a complaint there as well.
If a repairman doesn't want to work on a car because of the political statements of some bumper stickers, I suppose he may have a right to refuse the work; however, there may be a fine line between saying, 'Sorry, I can't help you because my son is fighting in Iraq for your right to say he's a loser' and "Sorry, I can't help you because you're a gay jew'. One is simply a matter of conscience; the other is blatant bigotry. It would appear that pharmacist had both going against him and I would be very vocal to everyone I knew and to his boss about his stance. I personally would tell you to file a suit against the landlord who refused to rent to you. Seriously.
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We asked Sissy, and she wanted to just get her hormones as quietly as possible. She didn't want to go advertising her status and making an issue of it, which I completely understand. The laws at the time, late 2003 did provide for civil rights protection for gender identity and expression, and the existing sexual discrimination laws probably would have covered it.
We wrote a letter of complaint to the store manager and the district manager for that chain, explaining exactly what had occurred and that we would no longer be customers of any store in that chain for any of our needs, and that we had told our friends of our treatment and most of them were going to be taking their business elsewhere.
The rent thing was definitely illegal, as it's been illegal to discriminate in California in housing, education, and employment on the basis of orientation since the early 90's, but we had little to no proof. Vacancies simply disappeared once it became clear exactly who was applying to rent the apartment. It was for such a short period of time that it would have been a moot point by the time the suit came to court.
Here we've had no problems. When we rented a condo while waiting on construction of our house, they didn't blink, and the pharmacy didn't blink, though now they'd have no reason to with a female name on ther prescription, thought the pharmacist did call Sissy's doctor to confirm the estradiol prescription when she saw the dosage (it's double the normal highest recommended dosage for post hysterectomy women), but there was no problem after that.
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Originally Posted by Seaver
My sympathies are with you in your troubles with finding an apartement and the perscriptions. However there is a tendancy on both sides in America to pressure our morals on each other.
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I disagree with this, at least in regards to the issues in the OP, but rather than sidetrack the thread into that debate, I'll just leave it at that.
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Those people believe in their morals so much they are willing to give up lots of money each month to stick with it. They do not cause you direct harm, they do not come to you and verbally or physically degrade you. They simply dont deal with you, and thus you dont deal with them. Simply decrying those people as bigots does not work, as you would not do business with the KKK I'm sure. Under a "truely" tolerant society we would service neo-nazis the same as Mother Teresa. The business may be great, but the moral fiber of the individual would be decimated.
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There's a very obvious and real difference here. A person going through sexual reassignement or having sex with a person of the same sex does not affect outsiders and causes no harm to anyone. The KKK actively seek to harm others through their actions.
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Please dont infer that I am stating that lesbians are on the same level of neo-nazis. I'm simply trying to draw parallels, though extreme cases can be dangerous. What I'm attempting to show is the sliding scale of morality. That I have no doubt anyone here would support a business that refuses to service a neo-nazi or KKK group in their home town. It gets very blurry with other moral issues
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That it does, though I don't see orientation as a moral issue, which is why I listed other potential examples.
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The line should definately be drawn in humanitarian cases. In cases such as a hospital refusing medical treatment for a trans-sexual, this should not be tolerated.
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It shouldn't be, but it has and does happen. Check out the movie
Southern Comfort. Robert Eads was refused treatment for
cancer by more than 20 doctors in succession, and was too far along for treatment to be effective by the time he found a doctor who would treat him.
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The choice to perform a trans-gender operation, however, should be up to the doctors or hospitals in my opinion.
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Or course. It's a niche specialty performed by only a half-dozen surgeons in North America as it is.
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What you must understand is the power that you as an individual have on said places. They lose your money directly by refusing service. However local and national news teams drool at the chances to "uncover" situations like this. The news coverage could in-turn create pressure from once loyal customers, and very often "mysteriously" is followed by audits from the state, local, or national agencies.
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I understand that, but did not want to make my sister's life any more difficlut than it already was.
Gilda