Logan Popp (inset) is calling on the LGBTQ community to boycott Unichem stores.
An Auckland man who was asked if being trans would affect him going to heaven is calling for a boycott of the pharmacy chain he says left him “feeling like trash”.
Logan Popp is speaking out again after he was targeted by hateful attacks following his stance against Unichem, which he says failed to support him when the store assistant asked the question.
Popp was a regular at Unichem Torbay until a store assistant asked him in April if he was happy with his chest - a question that followed mastectomy surgery he had last December.
“The next question was, ‘Well, where do you think you’re gonna go when you die? Are you gonna go to heaven or ... ?’
“And that’s kind of how she left the question open,” Popp said.
He told the staff member he believed he was going to heaven and had been raised a Catholic, before the assistant asked: “Do you pray to Mother Mary?”
“She didn’t necessarily say it, but the questions that she asked and the way that it followed the conversation, I mean, you can put together two and two and take from that conversation that she was basically saying, ‘Hey, I know that you’re trans and you’re gonna go to hell’,” Popp told the Herald in April.
“It’s a huge violation and a huge no-go.”
He says he came forward to protect others from the staff member’s comments, which he said could be “a matter of life and death” to someone in the LGBTQ community struggling with mental health.
The staff member concerned resigned after she was suspended, Stuff reported, but Popp told the Herald that he was dissatisfied with what he says was inaction from Unichem.
Edwina Neilson, general manager of marketing for Unichem’s parent company Green Cross Health, told the Herald that they were extremely disappointed to let Popp down and said his treatment did not reflect their culture.
“We expect all our team to treat people with dignity and respect, it is part of our culture, so obviously letting Logan down is extremely disappointing,” Neilson said.
She said an internal investigation process was under way and reinforced that Unichem Pharmacies ”firmly believe in the values of diversity, equality, and respect for all individuals”.
“We are dedicated to creating an inclusive environment where all customers feel safe and valued,” Neilson told the Herald.
Martin Harris from Torbay Unichem told the Herald in April that he was “extremely disappointed” by his staff member’s actions and said the culture of the pharmacy was to treat everyone with dignity and respect and admitted that the staff member’s actions had let Popp down.
“The crux of the matter is that we let Logan down and we acknowledge that and we’re trying to work hard to resolve that to a level that will be satisfactory to him and give some confidence to the rest of the community that he’s part of that they will be safe at Torbay Unichem Pharmacy,” he told the Herald.
Harris declined to comment for this story and the Herald understands that initial complaint is now being dealt with through the Human Rights Commission.
Popp says a personal apology was not made at the time and he was told by Harris that Unichem’s head office had told him he was on his own in dealing with the issue.
That’s not good enough, Popp told the Herald.
“They’ve kind of just made me feel like trash,” he said, calling on the LGBTQ community and all who support them to give Unichem a wide berth.
“Why support a place that has nothing to say from a really horrible situation?”
US-born Popp told the Herald that he had been recognised in public many times since he came forward to highlight his treatment at Unichem Torbay.
What had been a private journey for him was suddenly a lot more public. He says that he “passed” as male in many situations and the attention he received meant that he had effectively outed himself to the wider community.
He told the Herald that he received support from many in his local East Coast Bays community but online feedback was very different.
Popp locked down his social media and tried to stay away from hateful online comments, many wrongly claiming he had moved to Aotearoa for publicly funded surgery.
Then he found a cut on one of his car’s tyres.
Popp thought he had been unlucky and got the tyre replaced but two days later the same tyre was “slashed”.
None of the neighbours received similar treatment.
Popp said the silence from Unichem and the online abuse reminded him of his time in the US Army.
He served for seven years as a chemical specialist and had to keep his identity to himself, unable to transition or to speak freely about it.
”I had to kind of hide that part of me still because I have seen how they still treat people that are identifying as transgender and it’s almost like you’re not really a soldier.
”So to have this happen again, you know, it did actually trigger some of those feelings that okay, maybe I should be quiet and just kind of not be so out and proud and you know, open about being a proud trans man.
“So it really did make me feel like I needed to crawl back into the closet in a way, you know, especially for my safety.”
Popp told the Herald he was considering moving to a rural location, to be able to feel more free to be himself.
”It sucks,” he said. ”It makes me feel like a caged animal.”