A transgender woman says an employee at a popular restaurant in downtown D.C. refused to let her use the women's bathroom and told her it was illegal for her to do so.
Charlotte Clymer said she was having fun on Friday night with friends during a bachelorette party celebration at Cuba Libre on 9th Street NW.
When she went to use the bathroom, an employee asked to see her ID and told her it was D.C. law that you must have "female" on your ID to use the women's bathroom, Clymer said.
Clymer said she refused to show him her ID and tried to tell him that he was wrong about D.C.'s policy on bathrooms.
"I tried to reason with him. I tried to reach some kind of peaceful solution and he wasn't having it," Clymer told News4.
She went inside the bathroom and says the employee then followed her inside and started searching for her and said he would call police.
"I just didn't expect this to happen," Clymer said.
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Clymer says after more back and forth with the employee, a bouncer forced her out of the restaurant and she wound up calling the police herself a short time later.
"I'm not the kind of person who calls cops, but at that point, I didn't know what else to do. In D.C., a city celebrated for its LGBTQ culture, inclusivity, and protections, it stunned me that a business could so openly discriminate against transgender people," Clymer tweeted on Saturday.
D.C. officers told her she had every right to use the women's bathroom and filed a report, she said.
"We're all deserving of equal rights. I wish that every trans person could have that kind of support. You shouldn't have to have a platform or 100,000 followers for people to care about you as a human being," Clymer said.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser weighed in and tweeted to Clymer, "We won't accept this type of discrimination in Washington, DC."
Cuba Libre apologized to Clymer and posted its apology on social media.
"We are extremely sorry for the incident that occurred at our restaurant last night. As a rule, we support safe bathrooms and welcome guests of all gender identifications. Clearly our staff did not do so last night and treated you in an unacceptable manner. We are immediately retraining our entire staff to ensure this does not happen again," read part of the restaurant's statement.
D.C. law says building managers must respect a person's restroom choice based on their gender. Single occupancy bathrooms must be gender neutral and the law says discrimination at any public accomodations is prohibited in the city.
