Topshop Turned Away A Trans Customer From Using The All-Gender Dressing Rooms!

WTF, Topshop??
One of the store’s locations in Manchester, England refused to let a trans customer use the all-gender dressing rooms, completely going against the company’s policies!
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Travis Alabanza (pictured above) explained to BuzzFeed News about being told by one of the employees to go down to Topman to try on any items. Travis, who prefers the pronoun “they”, recalled:

“I normally online shop for this reason, but we were going in a group [to the event] so I thought it would be fun to go shopping in a group. We were in quite a good mood and all found outfits that we all wanted to wear.”

The writer continued, telling a manager they didn’t feel comfortable trying on items in the Topman section:

“I said, ‘I’m not going to be safe down there. What do you want me to do?’ and they just kind of shrugged. I was pretty pissed off. It’s my only day off this week and I just wanted to buy some clothes. I didn’t have time to buy them online.

They continued:

“Naturally I was already getting looks and stares as I always do, and that is the kind of thing you’re used to when you’re trans, but I think when I was stopped at the changing room, I noticed the stares even more. I was quite upset ├óΓé¼ΓÇ£ it ruined my day.”

While Topshop hasn’t issued a public apology to Travis, a spokesperson did confirm they spoke with them. Topshop also confirmed the dressing rooms aren’t gender specific:

“Both the Topshop and Topman fitting rooms are available for all customers to use.”

Travis said more needs to be done besides just saying they’ve instituting a company policy:

“It goes beyond responding that they have all-gender changing rooms. That’s not true. They clearly need to train the staff about what it means to serve every kind of customer, how to advocate for us and respond against people who are phobic.”

The Brit also took to Twitter about the awful experience:

Hey @Topshop just experienced transphobia in your Manchester store. Not letting me use the changing room I decide is shit, sort it out.
├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥ Travis (@travisalabanza) November 5, 2017