Editor’s note: Morrison said that he prefers he/him pronouns.
A former Kennesaw State employee at the Kennesaw campus bookstore lost his job Tuesday, March 3, after refusing to comply with a manager’s request to refrain from wearing lipstick colors considered unprofessional in the workplace.
Stuart Morrison graduated in December 2019 with his bachelor’s degree in integrative studies. Morrison said he identifies as non-binary and claimed the termination resulted from a meeting Tuesday, Feb. 25, at which Bookstore Manager Deborah Hreha asked him to discontinue wearing “black, bright blue and bright green lipstick.”
“I was brought to the office and asked if I would consider wearing different colors,” Morrison said. “I told my boss ‘no,’ I didn’t feel it was appropriate to ask that. I went and immediately filed a report with the Office of Institutional Equity. That was last week. And then Tuesday, I get called to the office and they fired me — Tuesday the third.”
Morrison’s letter of termination showed that Morrison was terminated for “continued performance, attendance and behavior issues.” The termination came exactly one week after the meeting and Morrison’s subsequent report to the OIE.
Despite 18 previous infractions that could have led to earlier termination, Morrison was not let go until the incident involving his choice of lipstick, the letter shows. Among those infractions were being late to work, calling out of work and not following the proper procedure for balancing the store’s cash bag.
By refusing to comply with Hreha’s requests during the Feb. 25 meeting, Morrison was found in violation of Section 8.4.4 of KSU’s Employee Handbook on personal appearance.
Section 8.4.4 of the handbook does not specify what kind of clothing or lipstick color is considered appropriate for work but directs employees to ask their supervisor about what is considered appropriate attire, according to the handbook.
“Those color choices are considered unprofessional, particularly since you are in a position as Lead Retail Associate where there is high visibility and interaction with KSU community members,” the letter of termination stated.
Morrison said that his firing was unexpected as the language conveyed to him during his initial meeting with Hreha was milder than what he was told the day he was fired. Morrison said he firmly believes he was fired from the KSU Bookstore for his gender identity.
“I absolutely feel that way. I also feel it’s retaliation for making the previous complaint,” Morrison said. “[Being fired] didn’t even happen a week later.”
Morrison also said he believes that if he were a woman he would not have been asked in the first place to consider not wearing the lipstick.
“What me, a queer person wearing makeup in a very public position says to other queer people, [is] ‘hey, not only are you welcome here, you can succeed,'” Morrison said. “The closeness of being fired to having filed the [OIE] complaint feels very retaliatory to me.”
On Friday, March 6, Morrison said he was approached by two police officers from KSUPD.
“I went into The Market to get myself a beverage and I specifically went in through the outside entrance and I left through the outside entrance of The Market,” Morrison said. “I was sitting out in front of the Sentinel office and two police officers showed up to ask me what I was doing here. It turns out they were called because I was seen in the Bookstore and I never went into the Bookstore.”
Morrison told the officers he was meeting with the Sentinel and had gone to The Market to get a drink and specifically avoided going through the Bookstore side of The Market entrance.
“[I’m] a little bit confused why they received the call after I explicitly didn’t go into the Bookstore,” Morrison said.
Neither KSU University Stores nor Assistant Vice President of Strategic Communication Tammy Demel commented on the situation.
In addition to meeting with the OIE Tuesday, March 10, regarding this matter, Morrison is looking into legal action he can take.
“I’m looking into contacting the local ACLU, I’m looking into contacting wrongful termination lawyers, I’m exploring my options — but I definitely plan to do more,” he said.
Morrison said that despite what happened to him, people who do not conform to traditional ideas of gender should try their best to take pride in who they are.
“I still think that even with this — especially because of this — people should strive to be who they are because they’re going to try to take it away, and we can’t let them,” Morrison said.
