A letter to a supervisor in the pharmacy at Walmart. I have to write a similar one about a Gulf gas station employee soon.

Dear Sir,

I had an unfortunate encounter with a pharmacist named *snip* at 5:15PM, Sunday, 5/31/2015. I left very distressed and upset.

I am a transgendered person. 31% of untreated transgender people successfully commit suicide before seeking help, and of those who try to address the issue 42% will attempt suicide at a later date. We are a very vulnerable population.

Transgenderism has its roots in medical causes. Cat scans and autopsies of transgendered people, even untreated persons, show they have a brain structure of a female (this being male to female transgender people). It is a birth defect, not a choice, but society is very unforgiving those of us who are born different. We look normal, so we are expected to conform.

I was picking up an order and *snip* was talking to other employees using the male pronoun when referring to me. I called her on it, and she apologized, then responding “To each his own”. Then kept referring to me in the male pronouns, which I was very vocal in pointing out. She would not look me in the eyes.

For a medical professional to be so ignorant is not good. To bully a vulnerable population is even worse. I work as a volunteer to try to keep people like me alive, people like her fail to realize how much her behavior contributes to the abysmal number of suicides we face and fight.

She refused to give me her supervisors name, by walking off and ignoring me. Another employee quietly slipped me your card.

I came very close to committing suicide rather than transition over 3 years ago. I choose to live for my kids, who had already had one parental suicide in the family. I still suffer from depression, and have one attempt under my belt that I am not proud of. I have lived as a woman for over 2 years, and do my best to be one, including having had surgery. However growing up as a man has left male features on my body and face that I can not do anything about. The vast majority of people treat me with courtesy and respect, with exceptions like *snip* to remind me of my history.

I am a pacifist activist, I am willing to talk to anyone, and normally will not get into anyones face, choosing to walk off when confronted by willful ignorance or stupidity. However, I was picking up my hormone replacement medications, and ran into bigotry from source that seriously should have known better. We are a small population, she may never see another transgender person, but if she does I would like them to survive the experience.

Sincerely Yours,
Wendy

----------------------

I mailed the letter this morning. A mistake? Not? What do you think?