On April 26, co-founder of the non-profit organization Peer Support Space, Located in Orlando, Florida, stopped at a supermarket in Colonialtown to buy a cake. When he got to the counter he gave instructions to incorporate the message into the icing: “trans people deserve happiness, However, the response surprised her. The case comes as the Florida legislature is moving forward in approving a series of laws against members of this community.
Dandelion Hill, who is trans, requested the message, which she described as “healthy and straight”. However, when the worker hesitated, he realized something was wrong. “He told me: ‘I’ll be right back,'” Hill said in recorded statements New York Post. “After waiting what seemed like an eternity,” she said, “a bakery manager came back, looked me in the eye and said, ‘Sorry, we can’t write that., We are not authorized to take any stand in this matter.,
For Hill, the response was disappointing, especially since he was going to a community-promoted event: “I try to deliver a message of hope and they turn me down right then and there. it was really sad,
Meanwhile, Yasmin Flasterstein, co-founder of Peer Support, was returning from the business’s bathroom and continued her conversation with employees. “You can’t take a stance on whether trans people deserve happiness or not,” he said. Even then, The answer was the same.
Although he won a bitter pill, Hill doesn’t blame the staff. He also recalled that one of the workers He told her that he had trans friends and she agreed, Amid tears, to write: “The people deserve joy.” She even gave it pink icing and left a space on the cake so they could write ,trans”,
Following the incident, Flasterstein contacted the supermarket to determine if they had a policy on this. In an email he shared with Washington Post, grocery store chain He assumed that there was a communication error and that the staff could have texted the message.
“Our policy is that our employees may write statements that are not copyrighted or trademarked, support a charitable cause, are factual, and are viewed as having positive connotations,” the company said: “As we As mentioned in your Facebook conversation, our staff should have complied with their request.
Flesterstein disagreed and demanded an apology from Hill, who cried in front of the other shoppers. The association he founded, Peer Support Space, Focuses on the LGBTQ Community And it originated in the aftermath of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting that killed 49 people. the cake was for an act In which volunteers prepare care packages and write notes for group members.
Last week, Florida lawmakers passed a bill Prohibits transgender people from using public restrooms based on their gender identity, Health care providers and insurance companies were also approved to give the option of denying their services to “conscientious objectors”. Washington Post.
Last year, Governor Ron DeSantis signed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which bans classroom instruction on issues of gender identity and sexuality until third grade, which was recently expanded. To cover all basic education.
From Hill’s point of view, these projects have created a hostile environment, so what happened at the supermarket had a profound effect. “Honestly, it’s hard to find motivation to get up in the morning because of the hostile legislation here in Florida (…),” he said.
