Jollibee apologizes to ‘genderqueer’ for discrimination at main office

MANILA, Philippines – After netizens slammed Jollibee Food Corp (JFC) for allegedly discriminating against a member of the lesbians, gay, transgender, and bisexual (LGBT) community, Thursday, August 10, the food corporation issued a public apology.

“JFC does not in any way tolerate any disrespect , discrimination, harassment, violation, or intimidation of any person , consistent with our company policy on diversity and inclusion,” it said in a statement.

JFC added that it has reached out to Bunny Cadag “to personally extend our apologies.”

In a lengthy Facebook post that went viral, Cadag complained that after working as an outsourced transcriber for a day at the main office of Jollibee, he was told that the company is not yet ready to accept transgender people to its workplace and that it held Catholic beliefs. Cadag identifies as “genderqueer” or neither masculine nor feminine. 

Cadag’s online post generated more than 6,000 reactions and at least 2,300 shares as of posting.

Rights group Karapatan secretary general Tinay Palabay posted on Facebook: “I stand with Bunny. No to discrimination.”

But another Facebook user said: “Discrimination has no place in civil society, but Jollibee has rules that should (be followed).”

The controversy, according to JFC, taught them “to further heighten awareness and understanding” of their policy on “diversity and inclusion” across the organization. – Rappler.com