“Lesbian” Shirt Got Woman Kicked Out of Federal Building

1. Peeves
   August 26th, 2008 at 7:01 pm

   Someone’s getting fired! D-bag. Working in a federal building..didn’t he get the ‘do not do these things or else we’ll be hit with an expensive lawsuit’ training?

2. Dandy
   August 26th, 2008 at 7:11 pm

   Maybe he figured that since she’s so confused on sex that she would even promote it, that she couldn’t be trusted to find her way in a federal building?

3. uggaboo
   August 26th, 2008 at 7:52 pm

   wow, i can understand if it was an ACTUAL offensive shirt, let’s say, two lesbians getting it on in vivid detail, but too get the boot for simply dispalying the word “lesbian”…wow thats a bit of piss off.

4. Ronnie
   August 26th, 2008 at 7:54 pm

   Tough! Get over it.

5. Mandie
   August 26th, 2008 at 8:27 pm

   Ridiculous… I wonder what would happen if I wore my “I <3 Vaginas” (from the Vagina Monologues) tshirt into a federal building…

   It’s definitely more offensive.

6. ted
   August 26th, 2008 at 8:30 pm

   Perhaps he thought she was going to start a riot. Kinda ironic that he almost started one himself.

   I just have to wonder why she was wearing the shirt. So she’s a lesbian - it’s almost like she’s asking to be victimized.

7. Donald
   August 26th, 2008 at 8:53 pm

   @Mandy….same thing would’ve happened.

   The guard was probably wrong…legally speaking. But, sure don’t have to be head cashier at Walmart to understand where he was coming from. I agree with ted. And if she wins a big lawsuit, I might buy a lesbian.com tshirt myself.

8. Woodwose
   August 26th, 2008 at 8:54 pm

   If everyone would wear a burkha there wouldn’t be a problem with these dress codes - except that we’d have to believe security guards that they really did have a badge on under the baggy outfit.

9. Moon
   August 26th, 2008 at 8:55 pm

   This is typical “rent-a-cop” behaviour. They think they have some power and they try to assert it every chance they get. Let’s hope someone with REAL power fires this so-called “Security” guard. How does kicking somebody out with “lesbian” on their shirt make anything more secure?

10. Donald
    August 26th, 2008 at 8:56 pm

    Hey…neatorama!!!! Maybe you need to include a lesbian.com tshirt in the store? We can ALL make money off of them. (you selling and us wearing/suing)

11. Umm
    August 26th, 2008 at 9:22 pm

    I smell an easily won lawsuit.

12. Jsahko
    August 26th, 2008 at 9:27 pm

    Ted, you make no sense. Nowhere was anything written about riots, skirmishes, outbreaks, eruptions, sporadic tongue lashings or anything else of that nature. So, it’s not really ironic.

    What’s ironic is I was just sitting here, minding my own business, thinking about starting a website called idiots.com when I read this statement: “I just have to wonder why she was wearing the shirt. So she’s a lesbian - it’s almost like she’s asking to be victimized.” Ironic?

13. Peeves
    August 26th, 2008 at 9:41 pm

    ‘lesbian.com’ is in no way offensive to someone who’s not a bigot. ‘asking to be victimized’? really?? you win the idiot of the day award.

14. StuckeyJ
    August 26th, 2008 at 10:06 pm

    “As an African-American and a lesbian, I haven’t been through one day without facing some sort of discrimination …”

    Give me a break.

15. Evil Pundit
    August 26th, 2008 at 10:08 pm

    She’s absolutely thrilled at this opportunity for some media grandstanding and conspicuous victimhood.

16. Tom
    August 26th, 2008 at 10:22 pm

    So, are you singling me out because I’m a nigger, or because I’m a faggot?”

    ^—Is what I would have asked him really loudly.

17. Oliver
    August 26th, 2008 at 10:29 pm

    “Give me a break.”

    If you made that assertion, I wouldn’t question your experience (unless there was obvious contradictory evidence). Give people a little benefit of the doubt, or at least a little respect.

    Obviously, today she was discriminated against. Have you lived her life? Do you know something we don’t? If not, how can you say that she hasn’t had it tough on account of her race or sexual orientation, perhaps on a daily basis?

    Peace.

18. Polx
    August 27th, 2008 at 3:45 am

    Ok, so if she has a t shirt saying Lesbian it’s ok to victimise her?

    Like she was asking for it eh ted?

    Well she was also going about being Black…I know… on purpose, where everyone could see it.

    Black as black could be…nappy hair and all.

    I mean it’s as if she wanted to be lynched by the Klan.

    Your line of reasoning is ret*rded to the a point that it’s a miracle that your brain stem can handle the breathing.

19. Darren
    August 27th, 2008 at 3:50 am

    “She’s absolutely thrilled at this opportunity for some media grandstanding and conspicuous victimhood.” –Evil Pundit

    That’s a ‘conspicuously safe’ thing to say. Leading the charge.. got a few hits for that one huh?

    Jokes, jabs, murder.. grinning rictus of the straw man grows ever wider, but you’ve got to pay attention before you can make things better. The guard who abused privileges to bully another human being (an employee even!) needs to be disciplined accordingly.

20. ted
    August 27th, 2008 at 7:12 am

    Thanks for the ad hominem attack, Polx.

    Here’s my line of reasoning broken down for someone with your superior intellect. Sorry I can’t provide illustrations.

    Point #1:
    I don’t think the guard was correct - in fact, he sounds like your typical junior Nazi security guard. It’s ironic that he almost triggered the very type of event that he was ostensibly trying to prevent. Deserves to be canned.

    Point #2:
    Did I say it was okay to victimize someone because of a t-shirt? No. She has the victim attitude, however, and she exacerbates it by advertising on a t-shirt: “Hey, I’m a lesbian! Look at me!” Well, he looked.

    So, yes, she is asking for attention. Maybe it gets her dates. But, when you ask for attention, you can’t always choose which kind you’re going to get. It looks to me, though, as if she’s the sort of person who thrives on negative attention. There are people who love to be offended, and subconsciously (or consciously) misconstrue other people’s words and actions into something offensive.

21. sw
    August 27th, 2008 at 8:15 am

    @ted

    maybe it was just a free t-shirt, and it happened to be at the top of the clean laundry pile. i wear all sorts of random t-shirts i score as promos and end up advertising products i care nothing about.

22. jay
    August 27th, 2008 at 8:41 am

    This happened in the land of E. Pluribus Unum?… the land of the free and the home of the brave?

    And ‘Homeland Security.’ That always sounds like something we might have heard out of Germany, circa 1940. It makes America sound so fascist… and this police/security guard behavior is not helpful to counter that impression.

    It appears she was just being harassed.

    ‘You’ve heard it said its not over until the fat lady sings. Well, that not true. It’s not over until the older straight white guy says its over. It’s time we stopped listening to them.” Margaret Cho

23. sparge
    August 27th, 2008 at 9:19 am

    Sweet! ted and PolX are going at it! Everybody get ready for well thought-out arguments and vast oceans of wit!

24. Scot
    August 27th, 2008 at 10:14 am

    I would have shot the dyke.

25. Cat
    August 27th, 2008 at 11:52 am

    The guard over reacted, and now he is reaping the consequences of his mistakes. She had every right to wear her shirt, whether or not she is a lesbian. The word is neither vulgar or offensive to anyone it describes. Truthfully, she was actually doing a service to the community by trying to educate others about a very important topic right now.

    I believe her quote about how she is treated in every day life. As a woman, a homosexual, and a minority she has 3 strikes against her in our society. Being insensitive to her statement does not make it false.

26. Lore
    August 27th, 2008 at 11:57 am

    Right on Cat.

27. Jimbo
    August 27th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    I agree, I don’t care what her shirt says, she should have been told to leave.

    However, on that idea, she could have said the same thing on her shirt but with humor.

    Like these ideas:

    “Guess what I learned in prison”

    “I love the little man in the boat!”

    “Waitress needed, apply above ^^”

    “Camel toe Jockey”

    “Ask why I smell like tuna”

    “Want me to finish that for you?”

    any body else got any ideas?

    Humor only guys and girls.

28. Jimbo
    August 27th, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    Correction She should have NOT been told to leave.

29. Neatoramawontsendmeapassword
    August 27th, 2008 at 2:53 pm

    If she’d been wearing a heterosexual.com t-shirt, none of this would have happened. I went and looked at the site and it appears to be just a resource site for lesbians. Hardly offensive (maybe some of the links are a little more graphic, but the site itself is quite tame).

    And with “jokes” like Jimbo’s floating around, you can see why lesbians would feel victimized.

    I guess we now know what Jimbo sits around thinking about all day.

30. ted
    August 27th, 2008 at 6:19 pm

    So you judge jimbo for what he thinks about? Quit victimizing him!

    The woman has every right to wear her lesbian shirt; it’s not offensive. In Canada, she could legally walk around topless in public.

    It just seems that some people relish being victims. It makes life easier when you have someone else to blame for everything. Her mother’s starting up a lawsuit against the security company…?

    And it’s interesting how we all assume the security guard is a white man. The article doesn’t indicate what colour his skin is.

    And I don’t have vast oceans of wit. My wit’s so dry, I have vast deserts of it.

31. Peeves
    August 27th, 2008 at 7:41 pm

    I think most people here disagree with you Ted because nothing in the article implied she went in just to get victimized so she could file a lawsuit or whine about the hardships of being a minority (which actually exist no matter how much you want to accuse actual victims of actively searching out victimhood). Also, ‘we all’ aren’t assuming the guard was white.

32. Rocky
    August 27th, 2008 at 9:44 pm

    “As she headed for a line to pick up a Social Security card for her son…”

    Son? So I’m guessing wearing the t-shirt wasn’t the only hasty decision this woman has made.

33. Peeves
    August 28th, 2008 at 1:30 am

    ‘Son? So I’m guessing wearing the t-shirt wasn’t the only hasty decision this woman has made.’

    Does this actually make any sense that I’m missing? Are you implying her having children is evidence of irresponsibility?

34. Polx
    August 28th, 2008 at 8:21 am

    ted,

    I accept your line of reasoning as laid out above.

    But the only stumbling block here remains as to her “Victim attitude”, well it is actually right to feel victimised when you have actually been …victimised.

    And in a more general sense, ie not directed at you ted, this idea of Attention Whore strikes me as a self serving received idea.

    I always get the impression that those who bandy it about would have said the same thing about Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

    The Attention Whore, going about the place dressed in a sheet and his underpants.

    By the definition of Attention Whore, he was one. So was MLK BTW.

35. Polx
    August 28th, 2008 at 8:23 am

    Oh and ted,

    “And I don’t have vast oceans of wit. My wit’s so dry, I have vast deserts of it.”

    great line btw.

36. ted
    August 28th, 2008 at 1:06 pm

    Thanks, Polx.
    I`m hoping Alex puts it on a t-shirt for me. That way, I can finally stop wearing my “Guess what I learned in prison” shirt.

    Hey, Peeved. I don’t think “most” people here are disagreeing with me. I think most people are shocked at the guard’s actions, but not too surprised that she would milk the situation. A lawsuit for that? Come on… it’s frivolous, and it cheapens much more serious problems.

    I also didn’t say she actively sought out controversy, just that she seems to enjoy finding it. Some people aren’t happy unless they’re unhappy.

37. Hm
    August 28th, 2008 at 2:37 pm

    Ted, I disagree, too. She didn’t go there to get thrown out. She was wearing a shirt to run an errand, a shirt to educate others and was discriminated against (very badly, in my opinion) for it. The opportunity to educate MORE people fell into her lap. I hope she uses the publicity to her advantage, and she absolutely deserves to win a suit if she files one. That would not be a frivolous lawsuit, it would help educate about discrimination. The fact that sharing this story publicly opens her up to MORE discrimination (see some of the comments here and multiply) and she’s doing it anyway doesn’t say “loves to be victimized”. It tells me that she’s sacrificing her personal safety to help her cause.

38. Hm
    August 28th, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    Oh, and I don’t think some of the more incendiary comments on here are worth replying to. Trolls are everywhere. Also ted: Your line about dry wit was very funny.

39. Jimbo
    August 28th, 2008 at 3:37 pm

    What has happened to this country where we have become a nation of offended people. I have two lesbian friends and we joke all the time. I am straight by the way. I tell them that God hates them and they just say that makes them hot. It is humor! We are great friends even though we disagree.

    However, having said that, let me be clear. She should not have lost her job over this unless the company policy has a dress code about such things. Many do, but they should have ask her to go home and change. That is what they do here. The very fact that is made it here means that it hit the media. So she is in fact an Attention Whore, to the core. Do know how many times in my life I have been treated poorly? Plenty, but do I call the news and become a Attention Whore? NO

    I was even laid off on December 15th one year so they wouldn’t have to pay me my week vacation pay. NOTHING I could do about. This stuff happens and it is always best to just do your job and make a statement somewhere else.

    For the record, I would never wear a shirt to work that said something like http://www.youngpornmovies.com. I would get fired too!

    BTW, glad some of you have a little humor

40. ted
    August 28th, 2008 at 8:06 pm

    Ack! I didn’t say she deliberately went there to cause trouble, or that she was expecting trouble.

    Maybe it’s a cultural (USA) thing, but I wonder why she isn’t satisfied with the resolution that the security company provided. A lawsuit would indeed be frivolous - did she suffer emotional trauma or financial loss from the guard’s actions? It trivializes the real efforts of people like Rosie Parks and events like Stonewall, or the brutal murder of Matthew Shepherd. He was killed for being gay. She lost her place in a line for a few minutes, then got to go to the front of it: boo-hoo.

    lol, Jimbo. Did you even read the article?

41. Flanger
    August 29th, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    SO WHAT?

    Quoting her:
    “As an African-American and a lesbian, I haven’t been through one day without facing some sort of discrimination”

    BOO HOO! OH NOOOOS! Live is so hard! Perhaps we should make a law that promotes lezzering in school?

    Dry up lady.

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT