• texasnews
Walgreens manager takes action on anti-gay incident
After a customer used a gay slur and an employee laughed, a gay customer demanded to see the manager to file a complaint DAVID TAFFET | Staff Writer taffet@dallasvoice.com
When Mark Alan Smith recently heard a woman in Walgreen’s on Cedar Springs Road say, “You punk-ass gay guys act like that, and it will get you killed,” he was angry. When the cashier laughed with the woman, and no other gay person in the store bothered to corroborate his story to the manager on duty, he was furious. Walgreen’s store manager James Ross said he took the incident seriously, and all issues were addressed with the employee. Local activists said it’s worrisome when incidents like this happen anywhere, but when they happen on Cedar Springs, it’s extremely troubling. Smith said he was waiting in one of the checkout lines at Walgreens on March 14. An-
other register opened, and a woman from the back of the line pushed ahead of everyone to be first at that register. Taken aback by the woman’s discourtesy of cutting in line, the man in line in front of Smith asked, “What just happened?” The woman who had just opened the register said, “I said next.” Smith said had she actually said “Next,” one of the four people in line in front of him who were closer to the newly opened register would have heard her. “I thought ‘girl, you are in the wrong place to be throwing an attitude,’” Smith said. “‘These queens up in here will let you have it.’” The woman who cut in line was still at the register when the man in front of Smith paid at his counter. As he walked toward the door, he tripped on that woman’s basket. “Hey you, why did you kick my basket?” she asked. “It was in the middle of the floor,” he said. “I tripped over it.” While that exchange happened, Smith said
• WALGREENS, Page 25
INVOLVED | In this file photo, Walgreens participated in AIDS Walk South Dallas. The company has consistently shown its support for the community. (David Taffet/Dallas Voice.)
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