Please join us in demanding that Walgreens and WPride hire trans women in Chicago Walgreens stores.

We write this letter in response to an event that occurred in the Chicago Walgreen’s store at 151 N. State St. We are demanding transformation in the wake of an assault.  

On November 15, 2013, two trans women were in the store, one of whom, ellie june navidson, was in line when a Walgreen’s employee behind the counter gestured towards the other women and said “that’s a man” to his co-worker. ellie said, “excuse you, what did you say?” to the employee. The employee then got defensive and angry and raised his voice. The employee continued to refer to both of the women as “he,” posturing and yelling louder when ellie corrected the employee, noting that he should use “she” and “her” pronouns. The employee did not respect this request and instead walked around the counter, pointed two fingers in the shape of a pistol at ellie’s head while he screamed “what is it?” at her. This employee had to be held back by another Walgreen’s employee so the two women could safely leave the Walgreen’s store.

We request that Walgreen’s and WPride take action to hold their employee accountable for threatening ellie and her friend. We believe that this hostile behavior should be addressed immediately and in a way that takes responsibility for the company’s employees and works towards creating a violence-free environment for trans identified individuals. We are asking that you engage with us in an agreement for holding yourself accountable in the following way:

While we recognize that Walgreens already has a diversity in hiring policy in place, we are calling on them to recognize the specificity of trans women's struggles and vulnerability to violence and unemployment. It is not enough merely to staff LGBTQ people. Even hiring trans people is not a remedy, as it too easily translates to hiring trans men who do not face the same levels of discrimination or violence in their daily lives as do trans women. However, were Walgreens to intentionally hire trans women and support them in their continued employment, they would be enacting a truly transformative policy. This would be especially useful for Walgreens’ staff; close contact has the capacity to humanize us and allow us to be broader and deeper human beings who exist beyond preconceptions. In breaking down these preconceptions we collectively minimize the chance of future violence.

As such, we demand that Walgreen's create and implement an explicit policy to hire trans women and in the following five stores:

 3646 N Broadway St, Chicago, IL

3201 N Broadway St, Chicago, IL

3046 N Halsted St, Chicago, IL

1001 W Belmont Ave, Chicago, IL

953 W Irving Park Rd, Chicago, IL

 These are the five Walgreens locations closest to the Center on Halsted which can be considered the radius of a neighborhood where many programs and services to trans youth and adults are offered. As such, hiring trans women in these stores would go a long way toward ensuring the safety of this cluster of trans women, especially those most vulnerable to violence.

 Our intention with the letter is to come to an agreement with you about how Walgreens is going to address and take responsibility for this incident. If you do not agree to the actions that we have recommended here, we ask that you kindly and respectfully explain the reasons for your disagreement, so that we may come to a solution together.

Thank you for your prompt and full attention to this serious matter.