A bouncer at a popular restaurant in New
York City's West Village ejected a lesbian customer from the
bathroom after last month's gay Pride march because she looked
too
masculine, the woman charged Monday.
Khadijah Farmer, 27,
said the incident happened June 24 at Caliente Cab Company on
Seventh Avenue South, where she had gone with her girlfriend
and another friend to have dinner after the march.
Farmer said she was
using the women's bathroom when a male bouncer burst in and
banged on the stall door, saying a customer had complained
that there was a man in the women's room.
"I said, 'I am a
woman and I am where I am supposed to be,'" Farmer said. "I
offered to show him some identification. I was told that's
neither here nor there."
Caliente Cab Company,
a Mexican restaurant known for its enormous margaritas and
checker-cab decor, did not immediately return a call for
comment.
Farmer said the
bouncer escorted her to her table and forced her party to pay
their check and leave.
"I felt embarrassed
and humiliated," said Farmer, a Manhattan resident who works
as a counselor at a residential program for people with
disabilities. "I'm just hurt that even my wanting to prove
that I'm female wasn't enough."
Farmer is being
represented by the Transgender Legal Defense and Education
Fund, which is demanding that the restaurant train its staff
not to discriminate on the basis of gender identity and
expression. No formal complaint or lawsuit has been filed.
New York City law
prevents discrimination on the basis of gender identity.
Farmer is not a
transgender person, but she said her appearance is masculine
enough that she is sometimes mistaken for a man.
"I'm never upset with
that," she said. "I say very kindly, 'I'm female.' Usually I
get, 'I'm so sorry.'"
