Transgender Employee Sues Hobby Lobby over Restroom Use

A transgender Hobby Lobby employee has filed suit against the company for discrimination by the gender-specific restrooms reports Christian Today. 

Meggan Sommerville began working for Hobby Lobby in 1998; in 2009 the biological male began her transition to become a woman with the accommodation from the company. Hobby Lobby willingly changed her name in their system and Sommerville’s health insurance package assisted with her hormone therapy. 

Now Sommerville has issued a complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR), arguing that the company is discriminating against her by not permitting her entrance into the women’s restroom. The Aurora location said she would be allowed use of the restroom after she undergoes sex reassignment surgery. 

Sommerville made the same complaint in 2011, but it was thrown out with lack of evidence. Since Sommerville says the problem persisted, the ruling was overturning and the case is pending. 

“I just want to be treated like all the other women. To do anything else diminishes who I am in the eyes of customers and employees,” Sommerville said. 

Hobby Lobby did not comment on the case while it remains in the court system. 

Publication date: July 17, 2014