Discrimination at the Electric Company

Here is a post from a man, recently married to his same-sex partner, who faced discrimination at the Electric Company when he tried to change his name on his account. What surprises me, but actually shouldn't, are the comments below the post, many of which blame the victim for taking legal action. While it is clear to me that the employee clearly refuses to change the name because he believes the marriage certificate is not legal, many who commented blame Mr. Torres for not trying again with another employee (he did) or asking to speak to a supervisor (he did). Why are Americans so quick to deny the existence of discriminatory behavior and so quick to blame the victim?

You can read the full post and comments here:

http://johntorresbrooklyn.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/discrimination-charge-against-evil-con-ed/#comment-54

Now that Eufemio and I are legally married, we set out today to assert that fact. We visited different government agencies, banks, companies, etc. to change their records to reflect my new last name, armed only with our Vermont Certificate of Marriage (and NO court order since the marriage certificate is sufficient). So far, we had no problems whatsoever, except for - - of all people – - Con Edison. This morning we visited their customer service center at MetroTech in Brooklyn. Customer Service Representative Mr. Navarro asked what he could do for me. I answered, I recently married and I need to change my name on my Con Ed account. I showed him my most recent bill, driver’s license and same-sex Marriage Certificate which, incidentally, is exactly identical to an opposite sex marriage certificate. Navarro read the document and tossed it back at me saying that it was not legal. I explained to him that it was legal. He said I was wrong. I told him he was discriminating against us and that I would file a charge.

Imagine that! A customer service representative at the electric company is the sole caretaker of the sanctity of heterosexual marriage. What exactly was he enforcing? His own prejudice and hatred. He wasn’t enforcing any New York State or City law – - in fact, he was breaking the law. He wasn’t enforcing any policy of his employer. He was enforcing his personal opinion, even though by doing so he violated my civil rights. And, I will do absolutely everything in my power to see that he is punished to the full extent of the law.

THE SAME DAY, I went to the Harlem office of the New York State Division of Human Rights and filed a charge of discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation and marital status. You see, if I had been a woman who married a man, Mr. Navarro surely would have congratulated me and changed my name on the account no questions asked. But because Mr. Navarro is a homophobe, he took it upon himself to enforce his hatred of gay people. As a result, he is named as respondent in the charge which seeks relief in the form of a letter of apology from Mr. Navarro, the correction of my account information, and a copy of a promulgated written policy of Con Edison explicitly stating that CSRs are to accept a marriage certificate as proof of name change for ALL customers, even the ones who are men and even the ones who are gay and legally marry other men.

An additional complaint will be filed with the Public Service Commission, a government agency set up to police utility companies and make sure they don’t screw customers because these companies are given lucrative franchises and they are often the only choice a consumer has. If I don’t like the way Con Edison treated me, I can’t exactly take my business elsewhere. There aren’t any other companies that will deliver electricity to my apartment. I will ask that the Public Service Commission issue a fine to Con Edison for failing to properly train their employees.

I will also follow up with the State Attorney General’s office, asking them to force Con Edison to obey the laws of the State of New York or face the consequences.

Lastly, I am writing a letter to the Human Resources Director of Con Edison complaining about the behavior of this particular employee and enclosing the three other complaints. I will ask that they all be included in this worker’s personnel file.

That should about do it for Mr. Navarro. Merry Christmas, a-hole. Looks like you effed with the wrong gay.