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A queer couple said they were ordered to leave a Boston hotel on Saturday after a security officer demanded one of the women to show identification to “prove” her sex while using the women’s restroom. Both women are cisgender.
In an online Google review of Liberty Hotel published on Monday, Boston.com reports that Elizabeth Victor said the security officer approached her girlfriend, Ansley Baker, while she was in a stall, using the toilet. The couple was attending a Kentucky Derby party at the hotel when, according to Victor, Baker was “forcibly removed from the women’s restroom by a staff member.”
Both women are cis, CBS’ local affiliate reports, but it is important to note that according to the Movement Advancement Project, Massachusetts does not prohibit people from using the bathroom consistent with their gender identity. The state also explicitly prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“She was humiliated and physically confronted while still inside the stall, pulling up her pants, and forced to show ID to ‘prove’ her sex,” Victor wrote. “Even after verifying she is a woman, we were both ejected from the event entirely, while shaken, crying, and publicly shamed… No guests stepped in. No staff de-escalated the situation. No compassion was shown. This was not just unprofessional — it was traumatizing, discriminatory, and dehumanizing. My partner and I are devastated.”
In a May 6 interview with CBS News, Baker said that the incident began when a male security officer entered the restroom and started banging on the stall doors while Victor waited for her near the bathroom sinks.
“All of a sudden there was banging on the door,” Baker said. “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.” As they were being escorted out of the restroom, Baker told the outlet that other women waiting in line heckled her. “Someone said, ‘Get him out of here,’ referring to me. ‘He’s a creep,’ also referring to me,” she said.
