A video from 2015 showing a lesbian woman without ID being forcibly removed from a bathroom for not looking feminine enough is gaining steam online in the wake of North Carolina’s HB2 and other “bathroom bills” throughout the country.
In the video, the woman is questioned about her presence in a bathroom by three police officers. The video starts with interaction between the officers and the woman already in progress, with the woman repeatedly asserting that she is in fact female.
“She. She has no I.D.,” she said, correcting cop who was explaining the situation to a fellow officer. “And I’m in the bathroom. I’m a f*cking female. Do I have to tell you again?”
The officer she’s addressing asks if she has any I.D., when she says “no” the cops force her out of the bathroom, over the shouts of several people in the room that she is a female.
The video has been incorrectly passed around the internet as the first known instance of someone being denied entrance to a bathroom due to the controversial bathroom laws in North Carolina. However, the video has been around since at least 2015. Still, the clip is a sad glimpse into possible future incidents, especially if officers feel that the have the law on their side in ejecting people from restrooms. The again, who knows how enforceable those laws will actually be?
There’s also this incident from the Baylor Medical Center on April 28th, showing the extent that folks actually seem to be concerned about the issue.
(Via The Stranger)