Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund Calls for Immediate Action; Plans Monday, July 2 Press Conference
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund (TLDEF) expressed outrage today after a West Village restaurant threw out a lesbian customer for appearing too masculine shortly after the city's annual Gay Pride march.
Khadijah Farmer patronized the Caliente Cab Company restaurant on Seventh Avenue South, in the heart of New York City's historically-gay Greenwich Village, on June 24. While she was using the women's restroom, a male bouncer came in and began to pound on the door of the stall she was using. The bouncer insisted Farmer was a man and refused to accept her identification as proof she is a woman. The bouncer proceeded to eject Farmer from the bathroom and threw her, her girlfriend, and the rest of their party out of the restaurant.
"I was thrown out of the restaurant because of who I am and how I look," Farmer said. "It was humiliating. No one should be subject to that type of discrimination."
TLDEF executive director Michael Silverman represents Farmer.
"Discrimination against transgender people, or gay men and lesbians who do not conform to gender norms, has no place in New York City," Silverman added. "We've demanded that Caliente Cab Company take steps to address this discrimination immediately to ensure that it does not happen again."
TLDEF has demanded that Caliente Cab Company:
• adopt and enforce a policy barring discrimination in its restaurants on the basis of gender identity and expression, and sexual orientation;
• train its staff to comply with this policy and all applicable laws protecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender customers in public accommodations such as Caliente Cab Company; and
• compensate Farmer for the violation of her civil rights.
The New York City Human Rights Law prohibits discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of gender - including appearance, behavior, and expression - and sexual orientation. Similarly, the New York State Human Rights Law prohibits discrimination in public accommodations on the basis of sex and sexual orientation.
We used to go in there after Pride in years past until we could no longer ignore the sub-par treatment and downright homophobic (and clearly transphobic) stance of the management and some employees of that establishment.
ReplyDeleteThis is unacceptable...especially considering the type of business and location it is in.