Arizona Trans Woman Denied Hormones By CVS Pharmacist

Arizona trans woman Hilde Hall was just trying to pick up her hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medication at a local CVS when a bigoted pharmacist refused to fill her prescription, embarrassing and harassing her in the process.

In a blog post on the ACLU's website, Hall described the humiliating experience.

After years of working to affirm my identity in a world where transgender people are questioned constantly about how well they know themselves, the pharmacist refused to fill one of the prescriptions needed to affirm my identity.

He did not give me a clear reason for the refusal. He just kept asking, loudly and in front of other CVS staff and customers, why I was given the prescriptions.

Embarrassed and distressed, I nearly started crying in the middle of the store. I didn't want to answer why I had been prescribed this hormone therapy combination by my doctor. I felt like the pharmacist was trying to out me as transgender in front of strangers. I just froze and worked on holding back the tears.

The pharmacist didn't stop at refusing to fill Hall's prescription, he also refused to give it back to her. When her doctor called into the pharmacy, the pharmacist again refused to provide the medication. Hilde filed a complaint with the Arizona State Board of Pharmacy and the CVS employee was eventually fired.

On Friday, the ACLU updated Hilde's blog post, saying that "Hilde appreciates that CVS took her experience seriously. She spoke with a CVS representative who offered a sincere apology on behalf the company and said that the pharmacist who mistreated Hilde acted outside of the company's guidelines. Hilde hopes that CVS will make its nondiscrimination policies public, so that transgender and non-binary customers have some assurance the corporation will take appropriate action if similar discrimination occurs in the future."