Trans Woman Denied Entry To Female Fitting Rooms At Zara, Brand Calls For Sensitivity Training

By Quinny Tan  •  26 Oct 2022 in News

Thirsty for JUICE content? Quench your cravings on our Instagram, TikTok and WhatsApp

World renown brand and fast fashion clothing retailer recently made the grave mistake of discriminating a trans woman her right to try on garments in the female fitting room.

The incident was documented and became viral on Marasigan’s (@luismarasigan) TikTok account as she talked about her experience at the Zara outlet in Bonifacio Global City, a mall in Manilla, Philippines.

@luismarasigan SHOUT OUT SA ZARA BGC its 2022 wake up #LGBT ♬ original sound – Angelo Marasigan

In the video, Marasigan showed the pile of clothes she was paying for at the counter and said that she was unable to try them on because an employee had prohibited her to use the women’s dressing room.

The employee also pointed Marasigan to the men’s fitting room instead, adding that staff were receiving complaints about her being there.

@luismarasigan @ZARA its 2022 wake up no to GENDER DISCRIMINATION #LGBT #SOGIE #transitioner ♬ original sound – Angelo Marasigan

In a separate video, she is in tears as she recounts her experience with the female Zara staff members who had referred to Marasigan as “sir” and how they were concerned about the discomfort of other customers, despite the fact that there had been no other customers around.

Two days after the original video was posted, she told her viewers that the brand had reached out “from a global perspective” and revealed screenshots of incoming calls from Shanghai, China.

@luismarasigan Replying to @Angelo Marasigan LGBT community tagumpay naten eto! Habang nag iintay pa ng durther updates mula sa @ZARA ♬ original sound – Angelo Marasigan

She then explained that Zara had invited her to their GBC outlet again, after a lengthy conversation with a brand representative, to witness the staff’s gender sensitivity training firsthand and offer feedback for further improvement.

“First of all, they said sorry to me. And with that sorry came an offer. They offered me to visit Zara BGC again, but I said I would think about it first,” she said.

“But after a while, I accepted the offer. They will show me how they can provide better customer service to people like me in the rainbow community. And they want me to be there so I can give my own input on how Zara can improve its customer service.”