Lesbian Denied Promotion by Chili's: 'Dress More Gender Appropriate'

A gay woman in Arizona quit her job after being told she had to dress feminine in order to get a promotion.

Supervisors at Chili’s Bar & Grill recommended Meagan Hunter attend a training program to move up the ranks at the Phoenix restaurant where she had been working. But after she attended, wearing a button-up and slacks like the male employees, she was taken aside and told she was “inappropriately dressed,” according the ACLU’s report.

“We really want to hire you,” the manager told her after she officially interviewed. “However, we need you to dress more gender appropriate.”

Hunter says she asked if that meant she needed to have her “breasts hanging out to be successful” at the company, and was told “Not in those words.”

She quit the job, and says she later was told by co-workers that she had previously been denied a bartending position because the manager said he “didn’t want a gay girl behind the bar.”

Steve Kilar of the ACLU says that “this is one of the most cut and dry cases of discrimination based on sexual orientation that [he has] ever heard.”

But Chili’s disagrees.

They say Hunter wasn’t even denied a promotion, and was merely offered a chance to join a program that would train her to maybe one day get a promotion.

“Feedback was given to her about our manager dress code guidelines, which apply to all managers regardless of gender identification or sexuality, but absolutely no mention was made of any need to conform to gender-specific clothing,” they claim.

Hunter says that when she went to complain to the company directly, before going to the ACLU, they told her she “must be lying because the manager’s best friend is gay.”

The ACLU has filed a discrimination complaint on Hunter’s behalf.