Sam Melrath, 22, is a trans guy who now lives in Northeast Philly. He came out as trans during 11th grade at Abington High School. He says his classmates were very supportive, as has his family been.

When his junior year ended, Sam got a summer job as a bagger at Giant Food Store in Huntingdon Valley. At the time he was living as a man, dressing as a man, and had chosen the name "Sam," which also happened to be a short version of his birth name.

After he began working there, store management began pressuring him to dress and act like his sex at birth. He says he was pressured to change his name tag from Sam to his given name at birth, even though other employees were allowed to use shortened versions of their names on their name tags, including one female employee named "Samantha" who used the shortened version "Sam."

After he had his hair cut very short, in a male style, he was pulled aside by a manager and told that if he cut his hair any shorter, "there would be consequences." When he asked the manager if that was a threat, the manager responded that these were "normal standards" and this was "just the way we run our business."

He got disciplined for talking about his girlfriend with with another employee. He got written up and instructed to "act normal" while at work.

In November of 2013 his supervisor told him that the store had a new dress code. Where previously all employees were required to wear button-up collared shirts, regardless of gender, the new policy would require male employees to wear the old uniform, but female employees to wear low-cut t-shirts that showed off their cleavage. He was told he would be required to wear the female employee's outfit.

Melrath protested, explaining that such a uniform would make him extremely uncomfortable. The Giant supervisor told him "you get what you get, and you will like it." He asked to speak to a different manager about the policy but was denied.

So Sam quit...and went to a lawyer an hour after walking out the door.

Melrath's legal team has filed a lawsuit accusing Giant of two counts of sex discrimination and harassment. Giant has not been available for comment.

It was terrible. I would go home every single day torn up about it. I wore a rainbow bracelet one time, and I was told that I couldn't wear it. Any other bracelet, management had no problem with it. I tried to put up with it, figuring I was only there for a few hours a day.

--Melrath

Since the job at Giant was his first employment ever, Sam worried that he would never find an employer who would treat him better. But now he is working at Planet Fitness and at a local Spencer's Gifts shop.

Spencer's likes everybody.

--Melrath

Sam is now engaged to a woman he met online in 2013. They plan to marry "when we get our lives in check."