Security guards at a Boston Marriott Hotel have been accused of entering a female restroom and accusing a woman of being a man, then demanding to see her ID to verify she was actually a woman.
Security Guard Demands ID From Woman In Marriott Restroom—Then It Gets Worse
A couple of you forwarded this story to me yesterday and I thought I’d just avoid talking about it, but I see my colleagues have discussed it this morning and so I’ll add my thoughts.
A lesbian couple was staying at the Liberty Hotel Boston, part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection. The two of them, both of whom are biological women who identify as women, went into a restroom together. That prompted at least one other hotel guest to “report” the couple, with the assumption that one of the women was a man.
As Ansley Baker used the toilet, she told CBS that she suddenly heard pounding:
“All of a sudden there was banging on the door. 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. I said, ‘I’m a woman.’”
Security demanded to see the IDs of the woman to verify her gender, which prompted a heated discussion, resulting in both women being asked to leave.
While the hotel initially accused the women of sharing a stall (“several women alerted security of two adults sharing a bathroom stall”), it has since fired the security guards and said:
“The Liberty Hotel is and always will be an ally of the LGBTQ+ community and a place where everyone is welcome and celebrated. We will continue to educate and train of our team to ensure that everyone feels safe and accepted within our four walls and guests who do not show tolerance and acceptance towards others will be removed.”
The hotel has also promised to retrain staff “on inclusive practices and guest interaction protocols.” The couple insists they were not sharing a stall, but the hotel has not clarified this particular aspect of the story.
What To Make Of This?
Let’s be real here, can we? If you watch the video above or look at the picture I have included, she “looks” like a man in the sense that her features are androgynous and she has a hairstyle and wears clothing that, at least in the West, are more likely to be worn by a man than a woman. Her build also resembles a more typical male than female. I understand the concerns that the security guard was “damned if he did, damned if he did not” (had it been a man in the restroom or had the two been sharing a stall) if multiple women complained about this person.
While I don’t want perverts in restrooms, I cannot help but note the irony of a man entering a woman’s restroom and then banging on a bathroom stall and demanding ID. How does it help the safety of all women if women must be afraid of a male security guard harassing them in the bathroom if he or someone else does not like the way they look? Would a trans woman who looked very feminine have no issue, even if that person urinated standing up?
Increasingly, we see gender neatural restrooms with each stall totally private, a solution I far prefer not for any political or social reason, but for the privacy…who wants to have people nearby you when you are taking care of business?
I don’t know that there’s a good solution here, though I don’t like security guards barging into restrooms and I also don’t tend to look around when I’m in a restroom and scope out who else is there (I’ll leave that to Larry Craig!).
CONCLUSION
A Marriott hotel in Boston has apologized after its security guards accused a woman of being a man. While I have some sympathy for the security guard doing his job, I wish this had been handled differently, and think that banging on restroom stalls is more of a danger than a female using a female restroom who might look like a man to most people.
image: Ansley Baker / Facebook
this is why we have Trump as president.
America rejected the trans in your face nonsense
But that’s not what is going on here, right?
“not what is going on here” ,
( the photo shows a man and woman serving drinks , and more bottles lined up inside the glass door )
I myself have just had a few drinks , and to my eyes they look like two women .
Certainly not like two blokes in the Army .
The tall woman was frightened and her hair stood up .
One does not expect to be frightened when staying at a hotel .
They’re not “in your face”. They have to pee like everyone else, you snowflake bathroom Karen.
There are bushes outside .
Derek likes this because he fantasizes about being the bathroom monitor that goes and visually confirms that only women are using the women’s room
The way this article was presented has propelled me to unfollow this blog. Numerous typos and grammatical errors made this awkward to read and the authors “two cents”, given the nature of the article, were cringe at best.
Bye, Felicia.
You don’t have to announce your departure. It’s not an airport.
Sure to be a classic retort !
I find it amazing that people are still focused on this tiny trivia when there are other enormous changes going on in this country and others. Stupid.
The complainers need to get a life. You enter a restroom and feel uncomfortable, just find another that suits. No immediate threat to anyone’s safety, so why alert security? Other than being a drama queen yourself.
Am I the only one who finds this story utterly hilarious?
Would you be laughing as intensely if someone was banging on your stall door demanding to see your junk or hole ?
Oh Yes! Its Chi Hsuan! He loves to show his hole.
If Chi had money he would have been Epsteins friend
All of you can eat the corn kernels straight out of my hole.
You feel sympathy for the security guard that ran out and humiliated a woman in the women’s restroom? Those are the facts. That woman didn’t do a single thing wrong.
The guard was rightly fired.
Yes, I do. The Karens who complained are the ones I have a bigger gripe with. The security guard was properly fired for not handling the situation better in his words and conduct, not for “investigating” as became necessary if multiple women really did complain.
Several hotel patrons come up to you to complain about a man in the women’s restroom. So even they were deceived into thinking this woman was a man. Do you just sit on your hands, blow them off, and not investigate? This poor security guard was just doing his job and got suspended for it. Hopefully his suspension ends quickly and he receives all rightful backpay.
I just don’t get the outrage here. Change this story and tell me the individual on the left is a male. I’d believe you. Tell me that man went into a women’s restroom and a security guard, after hearing complaints from women, pulled him out. Not a news story anymore. So, how were the complaining women or the security guard to know this wasn’t the case. So many want to retell this incident as if the parties knew she is a she.
see the posts underneath you, and you will see my point. I suspect the “woman” was offended that someone called he/she out for using the wrong lav. And what about the reorts of people sharing a stall? Take this nonsense to your hotel room!
Just use the lav of your actual sex, Not hard. Just like use the lav in your assigned cabin
Liberals, keep whining transphobia, etc. You will give us 60 Senators next November and we will have a filibuster proof majority if you keep this nonsense up
Now, this was intended for the post under Matthew’s as a reply to my post, not as a new comment
Chill out and don’t be so obsessed with this issue Dylan. You’re welcome to the men’s room as a “man” and no one here probably cares either.
All I know is it’s a damn shame some guy or guys didn’t know how to satisfy a woman properly. Which caused the previously normal woman on the right to get drunk one night and meet the individual on the left. Who in turn took advantage of the situation and serviced her in a way she didn’t know possible and she never went back.
Speaking from experience?
Let’s be honest. She looks like a guy.
If she’s going to insist going around like that, she’s going to have to expect – at the minimum – to be called “sir” more than once., especially by people who likely haven’t had exposure to that many masculine-looking lesbians.
Not excusing what happened, but this seems to be a situation where a little grace from all parties involved is in order. The guard should likely have received better training and perhaps a suspension, but firing seems excessive. And the woman – while understandably P.O.d – could have used this as an opportunity to show mercy and use it as a teachable moment.
1. Dress like a man and get a man’s haircut
2. Get all pissed off when treated like a man.
Why can’t women dress and do their hair how they want?
This may shock you but some women have been wearing button up shirts and cutting their hair short for a very long time.
What is “dressing like a man”? Women wear pants and have short hair all the time. You probably dress like a man too and no one here is bitching about it. With so much fixation on clothes you’re probably gay anyway.
Looks like a man. Glad security checked!
You look like an idiot. Should we check you to make sure?
Glad the security guard was fired and hope there are resulting lawsuits. ZERO cause for any sort of action other than blatant discrimination on how someone looks. This is exactly what MAGA idiots demanded isn’t it? Using the bathroom that matches your sex at birth? ZERO tolerance or “mercy” for anyone assaulting someone using the bathroom who has done no wrong. But good to see the level of bigotry and ignorance from so many of your readers.
Ami the only one wondering why when flying all sex use the same wc can anyone clarify?
I once worked with two women with masculine appearance. These woman also dressed up in male clothing I dont know how they coped in everyday life in events that related to the two woman in a female bathroom. I assume they have some plans of action to prevent misunderstandings about their genders.
Trans activists caused this. For many years transsexual women and butch lesbians used the ladies room, and nobody batted an eyelid. Then along came the self-determined “trans” identity, with obviously male-bodied persons sporting intact male genitalia and even facial hair declaring themselves to be “female”, and demanding access to hard-won single-sex spaces to validate their identity. With the resulting lapse in traditional safeguarding there was nothing to keep the creeps and perverts out – to challenge them invited hysterical accusations of “transphobia”. The Wi Spa incident is a perfect example, wherein a woman was mercilessly hounded both on social media and in the mass media for challenging the presence of a man parading his junk around in the women’s showers, because he claimed to have a “trans” identity. Only later did it become clear that he was a convicted sex-offender with a long history of offences against women and girls. When the rules are relaxed, freaks will take advantage of it for their own depraved gratification, and nobody should be surprised when women; that is, females; become hyper-vigilant about anyone with a less-than-stereotypically female appearance uses their single-sex spaces. Don’t blame the women who complained, or the security guards, or the victim who was humiliated beyond belief, blame the fanatical activists who’ve spent years insisting that a man with a beard and a bulge is just as much a woman as any female walking the planet, just because he says he is.
No one goes through years of hormone therapy and risks getting beat up by transphobic people in public just to walk into a women’s bathroom. Anyone can just walk right in. There’s no metal detector and ID check at the door you weirdo.
Pete, when you enter a. hotel restroom room and are uncomfortable with the occupants just turn around and find another. It’s that simple. Unfounded accusations about others ( lies ) is why this nation is such a mess at the moment. The conservative white right creates problems to * solve* using fear as a motivational tool. As you said this never was an issue before.
@Maryland, you are correct (as always).
That only works 50% of the time. What if you are in there and someone walks in you are uncomfortable with?
And while I enjoy your posts I would argue the country isn’t a “mess” for most of us. Nothing has changed for me in the past year, and I believe that is the case for most of us here legally of course.