Kansas City Costco denies discrimination allegations as new patients come forward

Natalie Wallington
Rich Sugg/rsugg@kcstar.com

The general manager of the Costco location on Linwood Boulevard in Kansas City on Friday denied allegations of discrimination that arose after a Star report found a pattern of the store’s pharmacy refusing to fill testosterone prescriptions for transgender and nonbinary patients.

“The claim that we won’t fill certain prescriptions is actually not accurate,” manager Nathan Gentry told The Star Friday. “We want to serve as many people in the community as we can.”

The pharmacy is currently the subject of an investigation by the city’s LGBTQ Commission. The commission announced Friday that impacted patients should submit a formal complaint with the city so that the office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity (CREO) can look into the allegations further.

“The Civil Rights & Equal Opportunity Department of the City of Kansas City, Missouri has received a discrimination complaint in the matter of a public accommodation and is currently reviewing the matter on behalf of the Kansas City Human Rights Commission,” Andrea C. Dorch, director of the CREO department, said in a statement on Friday.

The CREO department investigates and enforces civil rights laws on the local, state and federal level. Kansas Citians who believe that they have been discriminated against in the matter of employment, public accommodation, housing or public contracting are encouraged to contact the civil rights department at 816-513-1846 or through the myKCMO smartphone app. Complaints can also be filed at kcmo.gov/311.

In the past 24 hours, two more patients have contacted The Star about the pharmacy failing to fill their testosterone prescriptions. All five patients who have shared their experiences so far are members of the LGBTQ community.

“It has to do with some legal components of how the prescription is written,” Gentry said of incidents where patients were denied their prescribed testosterone. “We’re trying to take care of as many people as we can and also do it legally.”

He added that Costco’s pharmacy staff is reaching out to certain clinics about the proper way to write testosterone prescriptions. But Kenny Caldwell, the subject of a recent Star report on barriers to testosterone access in Missouri, says this option was not offered to them when they were denied their medication in April.

“All of their actions were never conducive to working towards a solution to assist me,” Caldwell told The Star Friday. They added that a regional pharmacy supervisor contacted them Friday to learn more about the issue. That supervisor declined to comment for this piece.

The city’s LGBTQ Commission recommended that patients seeking testosterone as part of their gender-affirming healthcare should consider one of the following pharmacies:

  • CVS at 3902 Main St., Kansas City

  • Walgreens at 3537 Broadway Blvd, Kansas City

“These are merely suggestions and there may be additional pharmacies that provide services and those conversations should happen with you and your medical provider,” commissioner Justin Short added in Friday’s statement.

Several attempts to contact Costco’s corporate offices about the investigation have been unsuccessful.

“It would be really cool if Costco could have a workaround,” Caldwell added. “They should look at all the states and make sure they are not turning people away.”

Have you or someone you know been denied your medication at a Kansas City pharmacy? Contact the author of this piece at kcq@kcstar.com.

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