By Lauren Zazzara
Features Assignment Editor
Fashion has its faults. It can be discriminatory towards people over a size two. It often relies on under-paid workers in foreign countries for production in order to keep costs low. It can be vain in that it is an industry almost entirely based on outer beauty. High fashion items costs thousands of dollars and are only attainable for the rich. But fashion is usually open to the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community.
Leyth Jamal, an employee at popular retailer, Saks Fifth Avenue, claimed that the company fired her because she was transgender. According to the New York Times, Jamal, 23, “stated in a lawsuit filed in September that managers at a Saks store in Houston constantly referred to her as a man, instructed her to use the men’s restroom and pressured her to change her appearance to a more masculine one, despite being aware of her transgender identity.”
In addition, “[Jamal] was asked to separate her personal life by not wearing makeup or women’s clothing to work, the suit reads,” New York Daily News said.
The store fired Jamal, an employee of almost a year, after she filed a complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, according to New York Daily News.
According to the New York Times, lawyers for Saks Fifth Avenue defended the store by saying that under the Civil Rights Act “’transsexuals are not a protected class.’” Saks representatives denied that Jamal was fired because of her sexual orientation.
In response to the lawsuit, according to the Human Rights Organization, “[the] HRC took the rare step of suspending Saks Fifth Avenue’s Corporate Equality Index (CEI) score.”
According to New York Daily News, “Saks Fifth Avenue wants [the] federal case dismissed.”
The fashion industry is generally open to sexual orientation rights. Some of the most successful designers, like Karl Lagerfeld, designer of Chanel and Fendi, Jean Paul Gaultier (of the brand Hermés) and Valentino are openly gay. Transgender models such as Lea T, Rau and former America’s Next Top Model contestant Isis King are in high demand. Many brands, including Gap, Tiffany & Co. and J.C. Penney have created ads featuring same-sex couples.
The greater variety of people that the industry can connect to and embrace through employment and advertising, the more likely they are to be successful not only in profits but in consumer regard as well. Saks’ lawyers may run the risk of costing the store respect from the public and isolating an important demographic of people.
