On May 16th, the International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, Ikea encouraged employees to engage in conversations with LGBT customers about their family life and to ask transgender customers by which pronoun they preferred to be addressed. Now, something tells me that since you can't really tell who is a member of LGBT community that means that the employees had to ask all customers how they wanted to be addressed and as far as I know the number of pronouns in Polish language has not changed in ages. In other words, it was a deliberate poke in the eye of the mostly Catholic employees.
In protest, one man posted quotes from the Bible, saying it would be better for someone who causes scandal to “tie a millstone around his neck and plunge . . . into the depths of the sea”. He also posted from Leviticus 20:13: “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.”
The Ikea says that such quotes “impinge on the dignity of LGBT people”, so the termination of such employee was justified. While they may be correct, they forgot about the freedom of expression and freedom of conscience and religion clearly written in Polish constitution and therefore law. It would be interesting to watch the reactions of common folks, since some forms of protest have already started, one of them is a large billboard in front of the Ikea store. There are also talks of boycotts.
How does the Financial Times figure into all of this? Just read their headline.
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| Retailer faces probe after firing employee for allegedly expressing homophobic views |
