Connecticut Woman Claims She Was Harassed In Walmart Bathroom, Mistaken For Transgender
BALTIMORE (WJZ/AP)—A 22-year-old Connecticut woman says she was harassed inside a Walmart bathroom after another woman thought she was transgender.
The 22-year-old says when she was in the bathroom the woman said, "You are not supposed to be here, you need to leave."
The 22-year-old describes in a Facebook video that it wasn't until the woman flipped her off and called her "disgusting" that she understood what was going on.
"She thought I was a dude hiding in the women bathroom," she says.
The 22-year-old also describes an encounter she had a year ago when she claims she was almost raped when a man followed her into the women's bathroom.
"If a guy was going to commit a crime in a women's bathroom this law isn't going to invite them to do it, they are going to do it anyway," she says.
This encounter comes in the wake of a controversial law surrounding transgender people's rights to use public restrooms.
In March, the North Carolina legislature — reacting to a Houston-style nondiscrimination ordinance adopted by the city of Charlotte — hastily passed a law which limits protections for LGBT people and requires transgender people to use public bathrooms corresponding to the sex on their birth certificate. The law has been assailed by gay-rights groups, businesses, sports leagues and entertainers, and is now the subject of the dueling state and federal lawsuits.
Last week, the U.S. Justice Department weighed in, suing to overturn North Carolina's new law restricting transgender bathroom access and warning that any similar measures elsewhere in the country could also face challenges on grounds they violate federal nondiscrimination rules. North Carolina has sued to keep the law in place.
Several other states in recent months have proposed similar laws limiting protections for gay, bisexual and transgender people. On Monday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi sued that state over a law that will allow workers to cite their religious objections to gay marriage to deny services to people.
RELATED: Baltimore Mayor Bans Government Travel To NC, Mississippi, Amid Bathroom Law
Even here in Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake issued a governmental travel ban to North Carolina and Mississippi due to the controversy.
