Allentown Trans Woman Sues Former Employer Over Discriminatory Behavior

Get a compelling long read and must-have lifestyle tips in your inbox every Sunday morning — great with coffee!

A transgender woman in Allentown has filed a federal lawsuit against her former employer, Tilden Township sporting goods store Cabela’s, saying that the company discriminated against her when she was transitioning, even going so far as to fire her because of her gender identity.

Kate Lynn Blatt’s lawsuit claims that management wouldn’t let her wear a gender-appropriate uniform, they forced her to wear a name tag with her birth name on it, and refused to let her use the women’s restroom.

“I mean it personally tore me down,” she says. “It never let up, they never stopped, and it prevented me from expressing who I was. … [My right to use the women’s restroom was] refused and thrown in my face, even after I had provided all the documentation and proved my case.”

The tough part here is that, as you probably know, Pennsylvania doesn’t have a law that protects transgender individuals from worksplace discrimination. (Grrrr). There are, however, a number of federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission decisions that have ruled in favor of trans employees. The EEOC has already determined that Blatt has a case against Cabela’s, saying that the sporting goods chain “subjected her to visual and medical ‘testing’ to determine her gender.”

We wish her the best.

Allentown’s WFMZ has a video report of the situation, which shows a reporter wrongly inquiring about Blatt’s surgical status and genitals. She refused to comply with the question, and the reporter notes that he respected that decision. Check it out below.

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

[Advocate]