Trans Man Says Walgreens Pharmacist Refused to Fill Prescription
A transgender man took to Reddit to share his account of a pharmacist who attempted to exercise a religious-based denial of service.
A transgender man in Oakland, California, claims a pharmacist at his local Walgreens refused to refill his prescribed hormone medication due to a religious objection.
Roscoe Rike, a 30-year-old trans man, complained in a recent post on Reddit that he went to the Walgreens pharmacy on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland to pick up his prescription, as he has for the past three years without incident.
But when he arrived at the store, Rike claims he saw a pharmacist he did not recognize. The pharmacist took the prescription but asked exactly what the medication was for, according to Rike.
“I told him I was pretty sure that it wasn’t any of his business,” Rike told San Francisco’s KRON.
The pharmacist then allegedly responded that he could not fill the prescription due to his “religious beliefs.”
Rike then got the idea to film the interaction with the pharmacist on his phone. Video taken by Rike shows the pharmacist standing at the pharmacy computer.
“So right now you’re telling me that you’re going to deny me my medication because of your personal religion, you’re not my fucking doctor,” Rike told the man. The man does not respond, and Rike remains silent, with only a fellow customer’s voice heard in the background.
After another exchange, the pharmacist suggests that Rike come back at a later time, when another member of the pharmacy team can help him. The video then cuts off.
Rike says he refused to come back later, arguing that he had already called the store to confirm his medication was ready and had walked over to pick it up.
“At this point, I completely lost my temper and demanded to speak to a manager,” Rike told KRON. “The pharmacist walked away and a pharmacy technician called the manager to the front desk. The manager who arrived apologized profusely, as did a few of the other workers.”
Although he was able to pick up his hormone medication, Rike feels that the pharmacist shouldn’t have had the right to refuse him service, questioning the legality of the pharmacist’s actions.
He claims he has been in contact with the Transgender Law Center, and plans on filing a formal complaint with the Walgreens corporate office. But in his Reddit post, he warned fellow transgender people to avoid patronizing that particular Walgreens store because they could be denied care if they encounter the same pharmacist.
This isn’t the first time that Walgreens has made headlines for its pharmacists choosing to exercise their religious objections and imposing those beliefs on customers. Other stores have also come under fire for allowing pharmacists to refuse service.
Last summer, after the Supreme Court overturned the longstanding abortion-rights decision Roe v. Wade, many Walgreens customers complained that they were denied service due to a Walgreens employee’s personal objections.
According to The Hill, in Hayward, Wisconsin, a cashier allegedly refused to sell condoms to a couple because of his personal religious beliefs.
In a separate incident, a TikTok creator claimed a Walgreens pharmacist refused to fill her prescription for birth control, telling her she needed to contact her personal medical provider. Another pharmacist later told the woman that multiple women had been refused birth control at the same location around the same time.
Walgreens has previously tweeted that pharmacists in its stores can refuse to fill or distribute a prescription based on their personal religious or moral beliefs, but must refer customers to another pharmacist or manager on duty.
Walgreens told KRON that it cannot discuss individual patient interactions due to privacy, but will “review the matter.”
“Our policies are designed to ensure we meet the needs of our patients and customers, while respecting the religious and moral beliefs of our team members,” the company said in a statement. “In an instance where a team member has a religious or moral conviction that prevents them from meeting a customer’s need, we require the team member to refer the customer to another employee or manager on duty who can complete the transaction. These instances, however, are very rare.”
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