On Tuesday, a teenager from Minnesota filed a discrimination complaint against Buffalo Wild Wings, claiming that a waiter had followed her into the women’s restroom and asked her to show she was a girl.
In April, 18-year-old Gerika Mudra and a companion went to dinner in Owatonna, which is approximately an hour south of Minneapolis. A waiter followed her into the restroom and knocked on the stall door, stating, “This is a women’s restroom.” Gender Justice, a Minnesota gender equality group that brought the allegation on Mudra’s behalf, said, “The man needs to leave.”
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A biracial lesbian who is not transgender, Mudra, said she has seen similar circumstances in the past, when people have assumed she is in the incorrect washroom, but they leave her alone when she identifies herself as a woman. But according to a statement released by Gender Justice, when she told the server, “I am a lady,” when she emerged from the Buffalo Wild Wings stall, the server said, “You have to get out now.”
Mudra claimed she had to unzip her hoodie to reveal her breasts in order to demonstrate to the server that she is a woman. According to Mudra, the server left the restroom without saying anything.
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Mudra remarked, “She made me feel very uncomfortable.” I simply dislike using public restrooms after that. I simply suppress it. I want to have privacy while I use the restroom.
A request for response from Buffalo Wild Wings’ representative, Inspire Brands, was not immediately answered.
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Gender Justice accused the Minnesota Department of Human Rights of discrimination, claiming that Mudra’s treatment was against the state’s Human Rights Act, which forbids discrimination against individuals on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, among other protected classifications.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Sara Jane Baldwin, senior staff attorney at Gender Justice, stated that although Mudra is not trans, the server’s actions were motivated by her preconceived notions about her. Minnesota law prohibits discrimination based on preconceived notions or stereotypes about protected characteristics, such as gender identity.
According to Baldwin, companies are required by law to train employees and make sure that anti-discrimination rules are implemented in practice, in addition to having them on paper. If it doesn’t occur, the company is responsible for the damage.
Mudra’s experience, according to Gender Justice, is indicative of a larger atmosphere of mistrust and anxiety directed at anyone who doesn’t fit the rigid ideals of what girls and women ought to look like. Although Minnesota has not passed any such legislation, the wave of state laws that target transgender people—specifically, their access to gender-neutral restrooms and school sports—has contributed significantly to that concern.
According to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank, 19 states have laws that forbid transgender persons from using restrooms that correspond with their gender identification in K–12 schools, and in several of those jurisdictions, the restrictions also extend to other government-owned institutions.There are regulations in twenty-seven states that forbid transgender individuals from participating in school sports teams that correspond with their gender identity.
Transgender persons have long reported experiencing harassment in public restrooms and have avoided using them as a result, even before such regulations were passed. Women who are not transgender have reported being harassed in public facilities because they were suspected of being transgender on multiple occasions this year. These incidents occurred at the U.S. Capitol in January, Phoenix in February, Florida in March, and Boston in May.
Megan Peterson, executive director at Gender Justice, stated in a statement that this type of gender policing is regrettably nothing new. Nevertheless, given the state of affairs now, we must consider the possibility that Gerika was transgender. Would the conclusion of this tale have been different? Too many transgender people have to deal with that horrifying reality on a daily basis.
According to the Movement Advancement Project, Minnesota is one of 21 states and Washington, D.C., that expressly forbid discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations, meaning that even if Mudra had been trans, she could have filed a discrimination complaint under Minnesota law. Six more states interpret existing laws against sex-based discrimination to encompass discrimination against sexual orientation and gender identity, and two states expressly forbid discrimination based only on sexual orientation. There are twenty-one states that lack clear prohibitions against gender identity discrimination in public settings.
