Target: Sid Miller, Commissioner of Texas Department of Agriculture
Goal: Stop singling out employees who do not conform to traditional gender dress codes.
Pride Month is taking place during a period of time when people are being dramatically triggered by beer cans and articles of clothing. As companies like Target and Budweiser try to be inclusive to LGBTQ+ individuals, their products are being boycotted, destroyed, or even shot with guns. Their employees are being bullied and threatened, and their places of business are becoming the sites of self-righteous tirades and acts of vandalism. Never content to let a cultural wedge issue go unexploited, the supposed freedom-loving leaders of Texas are now taking aim at the way people dress and do their hair.
Recent controversies have included school districts suspending male students for donning hair styles traditionally associated with girls, such as ponytails or buns. Some school systems have prohibited boys from growing their hair long…until their restrictive measures were halted by legal action. Now, the state’s Commissioner of Agriculture has waded into the fray by ordering employees to dress in a “manner consistent with their biological gender.”
What exactly this “manner” means to the commissioner is never made quite clear, but what is clear is the overreach and override of personal choice by yet another politician who claims to stand for hands-off government. Sign the petition below to demand the commissioner focus more of his attention on doing his job and less on suits, skirts, and dresses.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Commissioner Miller,
When exactly did the fate of agriculture in Texas depend on what employees at the department are wearing? The notion that dress codes seem to be your top concern at a time when the state and the nation’s agricultural sector are experiencing unprecedented challenges is more than a bit troubling. Stop politicizing the work of this important agency.
An employee that feels comfortable and valued in the office—an employee that does not see the workplace as a hostile, oppressive, and unwelcoming environment—will be a more productive and loyal employee. Please end the grandstanding and get back to fulfilling the Department of Agriculture’s mission.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Tima Miroshnichenko
