Foot Locker may be Fucked

[Jasun]

Foot Locker Stores Accused Of Gay Discrimination_
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff

(Columbia, South Carolina)_ A lawsuit was filed Tuesday accusing Foot Locker, Inc. of harassing and then firing a gay employee.

The suit alleges that Kevin Dunbar, 26, suffered antigay harassment and discrimination at the hands of his coworkers, supervisors and customers.

Dunbar claims that when_ Dunbar formally complained that he was being harassed_ the discrimination grew worse. His suit says that he was transferred from one store location in Columbia to another, where his new store manager refused to shake his hand and said, "I heard about your shit, I don't want your faggot ass in my store."

"Once I became a target, every morning when I woke up and I was scheduled for work, I knew that my supervisors and coworkers would verbally insult and degrade me, probably in front of customers," Dunbar said Tuesday. "At best, they'd talk behind my back and make my every task twice as difficult -- just because I'm gay."

Foot Locker, Inc. has a nondiscrimination policy which includes sexual orientation.

"Kevin Dunbar was subjected to a nightmarish workplace and then fired because he is gay," said Greg Nevins, an attorney with Lambda Legal which is representing Dunbar.

"Foot Locker could have addressed this problem, as it clearly promises employees in its policies, but instead chose to ignore it and make it worse.__Our client followed the rules to address the discrimination, and all it got him was a pink slip," said Nevins.

In the lawsuit, Lambda Legal argues that Foot Locker, Inc., breached its contract with Dunbar by violating the company's own anti-harassment, anti-discrimination and open-door policies that are promised in the employee handbook.

Three customers who witnessed three separate incidents of antigay harassment have sworn affidavits on Dunbar's behalf.

One customer approached Dunbar and gave him her name and phone number "because as a Christian woman I felt this was wrong, and the Lord told me to help and heal because the hurt, pain and embarrassment I saw on Mr. Dunbar's face was intense."_

On another occasion, a customer was shopping with her four children and heard Dunbar's coworkers calling him "punk ass" and "faggot."_

After one particularly harsh round of name-calling, a customer was concerned for Dunbar's safety when she heard a coworker threaten, "I will beat his punk ass!"

A spokesperson for the company refused comment on the suit.

In conjunction with the lawsuit, Lambda Legal launched what it calls a "Blow the Whistle on Foot Locker" campaign today, designed to activate people nationwide beginning with a series of town hall meetings set to kick off in Columbia after Labor Day. An aggressive post-card campaign also launched today will encourage thousands of people nationwide to complain to the company.

http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/06/062904lockerSuit.htm


It makes you pretty sick that this kind of thing is stil happening in the freaking 21st century. It's easy for many of us who live in cities with huge gay communities that homophobia still exists. I haven't been called "Faggot" since about 1994. So if any of you have Footlocker stories, pass them on.. let us make a rather harsh exaplme of them.

[DigitalJay]

A 19 year old gay man just recently got his throat slit in my small midwest town. Right now I'm more worried about physical assault than the idiocies that come out of people's mouths.

[basschick]

but by tacitly okaying any kind of vicious abuse - oral or otherwise - that helps bring on the next level of abuse.

it amazes me that foot locker wouldn't put a stop to this behaviour from a business standpoint if not a humanistic one. i mean, <sarcasm>what could make a mom more happy then to buy shoes at a store where her 6 year olds get to hear new words like faggot?</sarcasm>

[Lee]

You know this guy is going to get a HUGE settlement from Foot Locker.

Either in court or out of court he wont have to work again for a very long time.

Regards,

Lee

[thetwink]

I'm so used to Los Angeles, that stories like this shock me even more than I guess I would expect. Sad. DigitalJay, that must really be terrible to even have those fears.

[TonyKink]

Way back in 1986, I got fired from Foot Action because of being gay. I lived in a small town in west Texas, so not too surprising. I worked at the local gay bar, and saw my fair share of "queer-bashing" when the bar would close at night and people were headed out. You would have thought that things would have changed more than they have since then!

TonyK

[DigitalJay]

I live in MO, I can't really go anywhere but church (I don't) without hearing "Shut up faggot!" or "That is so fucking gay!", using those as everyday slang here seems more popular than ever.

My female roomate was walking through the house the other day going "faggot, faggot, all of them are just faggots!" I don't know if it was a song or what. But she says it a LOT around me.

I even heard in McDonalds not too long ago "Tell them we don't serve faggots." give me a break.

I guess maybe kissing my bf on stage at prom in this small ass town wasn't such a good idea? Oh well, the dead silence and gaping jaws was worth it!

[Jasun]

Jay, I just can't imagine living in such a hostile environment. I know from living out on the East Coast that after a while, you start to think you deserve the abuse, but trust me.. if i was living with sombody like your room mate, she'd have my boot up her twat prety quick... you don't have to take that shit from anyone, and the sooner you make people aware of that, the sooner it'll stop.

I don't ever hear "faggot" anymore, and on the occasion I hear somebody say "That's so gay", I'll confront them about it. I know that in smaller more rural areas, you've got considerably bigger fish to fry, but stand up for yourself... don't let people give you that shit.