A same-sex couple who were visiting Boston in the US have claimed that they were wrongfully thrown out of female toilets at a hotel due to being misgendered.
Ansley Baker and her girlfriend Liz Victor were both at the Liberty Hotel at a Kentucky Derby party on Saturday (3 May) when the altercation began.
They explained, as per CBS News, that they had been confronted by security in the restrooms and one of them was accused of being a non-biological woman.
The women, who were both born female and continue to identify as such, were allegedly told that Ansley did not belong in the space, believing her to be assigned male at birth.
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“All of a sudden there was banging on the door,” Baker told CBS News.
“I pulled my shorts up. I hadn’t even tied them. One of the security guards was there telling me to get out of the bathroom, that I was a man in the women’s bathroom. I said: ‘I’m a woman.’”
Her girlfriend, Liz, explained that she had been waiting by the sinks for Ansley when she heard the confrontation, explaining: “I looked down and I saw her shoes and that’s when I was like: ‘What is going on?’”
The pair went on to say that security was escorting Ansley from the area, and that women in the line to use the toilets were hurling insults at her, calling her ‘a creep’ as they too believed that she was a man.
Security demanded that they prove their genders by showing identification, and after a heated exchange, the pair were thrown out of the hotel.
According to an initial statement shared with CBS, the Liberty Hotel claimed that the women became violent.
It read: “An incident occurred at the Boston Liberty Hotel on Saturday, May 3 where several women alerted security of two adults sharing a bathroom stall. The bathroom was cleared out as two adults in one stall are not permitted. After leaving the bathroom, a member of the couple from the stall put their hands on our security team and it was then that they were removed from the premises.”
The hotel went on to say that it has a ‘zero-tolerance policy for any physical altercations’ and that the incident was still under investigation.
However, it went on to state that the hotel is ‘an ally of the LGBTQ+ community and a place where everyone is welcome and celebrated’, dismissing claims that Ansley was misgendered.
But the women have previously claimed in interviews that they were never in the same stall, with Ansley telling Boston News 25: “Once the stall door opened, and I’m the only one in there, it escalated further. I don’t think that aligns with what they’re saying.”
In a shocking twist, on Tuesday May 6, the Liberty Hotel finished its investigation and released another statement.
According to The Guardian, the hotel stated that the security officer was being ‘suspended from their position immediately’ and that its general manager was reaching out to the woman as a ‘mandatory retraining for all staff on inclusive practices and guest interaction protocols, with a particular focus on creating a safe and welcoming space for LGBTQ+ individuals’ was being issued.
The statement added: “In a reaffirmation of our values, the hotel is making a donation to a local LGBTQ+ organization that we have partnered with in the past, on International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), on May 17.”
Britt Jones