LGBT Case: Woman in Women’s Room

Tort Law

Posted Oct 9, 2007, 05:22 pm CST
By Martha Neil

In a cutting-edge transgendered rights case, a woman is suing over allegedly being forced out of a women's room at a New York City restaurant.

Yes, you read that right—a biological, from-birth female is suing because she was ejected from a women's room, and this is something of a cause celebre in the LGBT community, according to the New York Times City Room blog. Although she told the bouncer who came into the restaurant restroom while she was in a stall and insisted she leave that she is female, he refused to look at her identification, Khadijah Farmer says.

Gender rights groups have now taken up the banner for the 28-year-old midtown Manhattan resident, who says she is often mistaken for a man. The case sets an important precedent, advocates say, because it shows the adverse effect not only of discrimination against those perceived to be transgendered but of discrimination based on stereotypical gender assumptions.

“We’re asking the court to say that sex stereotyping by public accommodation is just as harmful when practiced by a public accommodation like a restaurant as it is when it is practiced by an employer,” says Michael Silverman, the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund's executive director and general counsel. “If Khadijah were wearing pearls and white gloves, would the bouncer have treated her like that?”

The organization has filed suit on her behalf under state and municipal law. The restaurant did not return phone messages from the blog.

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