News Item

Transsexuals Sue Toys R Us (NY,US)

Denise Buffa

NY Post
June 17, 2002


Three transsexuals have sued Toys "R" Us, claiming they were threatened  by bat-wielding workers while shopping for life-size Barbie Dolls last Christmas at the Bensonhurst store.

The three men-turned-women say they went to the Bay Parkway store Dec. 20 when a mob of workers called them "fags," "faggots," "homos," and "disgusting transvestites," and threatened to attack them with bats.

"I was scared for my life," said Donna McGrath, a 27-year-old blond homemaker who lives with her husband in Brooklyn's Midwood section. McGrath and her friends - Tanya Jinks, 37, of Bensonhurst, a former law clerk who is now a dancer, and Tara Lopez, 25, of Midwood, who works in a nightclub - filed a suit Tuesday in Brooklyn federal court asking for at least $100,000 each in damages for discrimination.

"The simple question that this case presents is whether or not the defendants are Toys 'R' Us or Bigots 'R' Us," their Manhattan lawyer, Thomas Shanahan, told The Post.

Toy "R" Us did not return phone calls, but in a letter to the complaining customers, the firm said, in part, that an internal
investigation found "no fault on our part . . . As we are sure you can understand, the fact that an incident occurred on our premises does not automatically make us responsible."

The Dec. 20 incident marked the second time the transsexual trio had visited the Toys "R" Us Bensonhurst store.

The first time they went in was Dec. 13, when they say a woman working there spotted them. Before they knew it, the three say more than half a dozen workers were calling them names.

When the three complained to the manager, they say he warned the workers and offered them a 50 percent discount, which they accepted. The three say they felt safe enough to return to the store Dec. 20. But the three said things were worse on that visit. Workers followed them and verbally abused them, armed with bats, they say.