Jennifer stood up for her rights to work in a place free from discrimination and hostility. Stand with Jennifer and others in the LGBTQ community to say that this is not okay.
Jennifer Johnston was harassed by her supervisor at Whole Foods:
She told Jennifer that her Crocs were “unf*ckable” in front of her two coworkers, adding that “only gay people wear Crocs”. On an almost-daily basis, she called Jennifer’s shoes “U’s” or “UF’s”, meant to stand for the term “unf*ckable.”
Her supervisor dressed up as Jennifer as part of what was called “team member appreciation week”, which involved her supervisor dressing like each of the three marketing team members. When she dressed up as Jennifer, she wore clothes aimed at negative lesbian stereotypes and biases—a sweatshirt, baggy jeans, old tennis shoes, and a backwards hat. Her supervisor then asked Jennifer and her coworkers if she looked gay and “dykey” enough.
Her supervisor routinely asked Jennifer whether she thought certain people were gay, adding “well you are gay, can’t you point out who else is gay?”
Jennifer’s supervisor also asked offensive questions based on “butch” stereotypes, such as whether Jennifer plucked her eyebrows and whether she had ever washed her hair. She further asked intrusive questions about her personal life with her wife, such as who wore the pants in her relationship, and if she and her wife had “hotel sex” on vacation, like a heterosexual couple.
Jennifer repeatedly asked her supervisor to stop making such comments. She did not. Then, when Jennifer reported the behavior to Whole Foods, her manager wrote Jennifer up for fabricated reasons in retaliation for complaining and violated their own internal policy regarding issuing discipline. She was not offered a solution, a schedule change, and was certainly never told that Whole Foods had her back.
Stand up against workplace discrimination. Stand with Jennifer and please sign the petition.
