Actress Liz Carr calls out M&S after transgender friend is refused entry to changing room
(Twitter)
Actress Liz Carr has spoken out against Marks & Spencer after her transgender friend was refused entry to its flagship Oxford Street store changing room.
The Silent Witness actress shared a tweet from her wife Jo Church which described their friend being denied entry to the male fitting room, adding her own stinging criticism.
“Sigh… I bloody love @marksandspencer normally (especially the food!) but this happening to a friend of ours is just rubbish,” she wrote.
“M&S please look at your staff’s actions and question your offensive treatment of trans customers using changing rooms. #ItsAlwaysYourFight #SilentWitness”.
(Twitter)
According to Church, their friend was told by shop workers that “it’s not like Europe y’know”.
(Twitter)
She asked: “WTF does that even MEAN?!”
After stating how unacceptable it was, she added: “There is no place for #transphobia in our society.
“Big corporations like @marksandspencer should lead by example”.
People have hailed Carr’s tweet calling out the shopping brand.
One user thanked her for being an ally, tweeting: “thanks for standing up for us, it helps a lot to have people like you looking out for us!
They added: “horrible treatment, but sadly its a daily reality for trans people”.
(Twitter)
Another user said: “Disgraceful unfair treatment!! But then again, not much hope for a worker who doesn’t even know that we are ‘in Europe’”.
(Twitter)
Another made a joke about how ridiculous the situation was, tweeting: “Aah, time travel is possible! M&S workers hail from the 1950’s!”
(Twitter)
As did another, tweeting: “Not just discrimination. This is *Marks and Spencer* discrimination”.
(Twitter)
A spokeswoman from M&S told the Evening Standard: “We want our customers to feel comfortable and enjoy shopping in our stores.
Our changing rooms, wherever they are located in-store, are available for all customers to use with respect to other customers’ privacy.”
She added: “We urge the customer to contact our customer services team so we can investigate this as a priority”.
The news is somewhat of a shock, considering that M&S made gender neutral toys for children in 2014.
Previously, clothing stores such as Primark and Urban Outfitters have been criticised for turning trans people away from their changing room of choice.
